The upcoming Central Asia-China summit on the 18th to 19th of May, which will be held in the ancient Chinese city of San, will open a new epoch in relations between the countries of the Central Asian five (Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) with China. Well-known analytical centres and political scientists give such an assessment of the forthcoming summit.

According to experts, the main vectors of cooperation between states in this format are energy, transport, logistics, investment and trade and economic spheres.

The participation of Turkmenistan in the summit «Central Asia - China», in fact, provides the energy component of the partnership of states in this format. In particular, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, in January of this year, in an interview with the main newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China «Jen-min Jih-pao» («People's Daily») said that the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline commissioned at the end of 2009 became the largest joint energy project implemented on the Asian continent, and on to date, over 350 billion cubic meters of natural gas have already been delivered through it.

According to experts, the leaders of the countries of Central Asia and China will discuss the issues of increasing the supply of Turkmen natural gas to the energy market of the region. As you know, gas supplies are carried out through three lines (A, B and C), passing along the route Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China.

Turkmen natural gas can be used not only by the end consumer - China, but also by transit countries - Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In recent years, the parties have been discussing the construction of the fourth branch (D) of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline, which should run along the route Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan-China. Moreover, such a route was chosen at the request of Dushanbe and Bishkek, which are in need of energy resources. The construction of the 4^th line will make it possible to bring the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline to its design capacity and annually supply up to 65 billion cubic meters to the energy market of the Celestial Empire. In addition, branch D will allow direct supplies of Turkmen gas to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.