On the morning of May 17, 2023, during the China - Central Asia Summit, the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Commerce of China jointly held the “Uzbekistan - China Business Forum” in Xi’an. More than 500 representatives from Uzbekistan and China attended the forum. All the ministers from Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Digital Technology, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of Uzbekistan attended the forum and delivered keynote speeches on business cooperation between Uzbekistan and China. Professor Tony Zou, Vice-Rector of “Silk Road” University, attended the forum at the invitation of the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in China. Many general managers from famous companies including Tianjin Kaiteng Investment Group, Shanghai International Construction Group and Huawei, and more than 20 Chinese university presidents, such as Lanzhou University, Northwest University, and Shaanxi Normal University, etc. were also invited to attend this forum.

All the ministers had introduced the recent development of agriculture, manufacturing, education, energy, digital technology in Uzbekistan, and expressed the sincere wishes to cooperate with China. More than 20 cooperation projects had exchanged cooperation documents.

Vice-Rector Tony Zou attended the meeting as university representatives from both China and Uzbekistan, and he had reported to Uzbekistan’s Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, I.Abdurakhmonov, a report on the science and innovation of “Silk Road” University. He also discussed with several universities and companies to establish the cooperation with “Silk Road” University.