Tajik diplomats together with diplomatic envoys from 11 other countries visited northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from December 28-30, 2018.
Chinese news agency Xinhua says the Xinjiang government invited diplomatic envoys as well as representatives of diplomatic envoys from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Thailand, and Kuwait.
The diplomatic envoys reportedly visited local markets, farmers, educational institutes, mosques, factories, as well as vocational education and training centers.
The Tajik MFA information department says they do not have information about this trip.
Meanwhile, Xinhua notes that throughout the trip, the diplomats interacted with local vendors, students, and workers in Xinjiang and learned about the region's progress in maintaining social stability, improving people's livelihood and developing local economy. They said they expected to cooperate with China's Xinjiang in the fields of culture, tourism, economy and trade.
The diplomatic envoys also visited the Xinjiang Islamic Institute, which offers three-year bachelor programs and religious training, and a local economic development zone in Kashgar, where they saw the wide variety of imported products from Europe, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.
The diplomatic envoys also visited Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, the largest mosque in Xinjiang, and were briefed on the mosque and its facility improvements.
Besides, they visited a vocational education and training center in Kashgar, at which students study ethnic instruments, calligraphy, painting, law, and many other skills.
At another vocational training center in Hotan, Kabaziyev Manarbek, Counselor of the Kazakhstan Embassy in China, reportedly received an oil painting created by a student who has studied art for half a year in the center, as a New Year gift.
The envoys also visited a clothing factory in Hotan, where villagers who have received training work on the assembly lines. According to the factory owner, they receive a monthly salary of more than 3,000 yuan (equivalent to 438 U.S. dollars).
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is a provincial-level autonomous region of China in the northwest of the country. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and the eighth largest country subdivision in the world, spanning over 1.6 million square kilometers. Xinjiang borders the countries of Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The most well-known route of the historical Silk Road ran through the territory from the east to its northwestern border. Xinjinag is home to a number of ethnic groups, including the Uyghur, Han, Kazakhs, Tibetans, Hui, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Mongols and Russians.
Traditionally an agricultural region, Xinjiang also has large deposits of minerals and oil.
XUAR has several economic and technological development zones: Bole Border Economic Cooperation Area; Shihezi Border Economic Cooperation Area; Tacheng Border Economic Cooperation Area; Urumqi Economic & Technological Development Zone; Urumqi Export Processing Zone; Urumqi New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone; and Yining Border Economic Cooperation Area.
