Chinese President Xi Jinping called for building a "green, healthy, intelligent and peaceful" Silk Road in his address to the Uzbek Parliament Wednesday.
On a green Silk Road, Xi said that environmental cooperation among countries participating in the Belt and Road initiative should be deepened, the idea of green development should be put into practice, and efforts to protect the ecological environment should be intensified.
On a healthy Silk Road, the president called on participating countries to deepen medical and health cooperation, and strengthen reciprocal collaboration in the release of information on epidemics, epidemic prevention and control, medical assistance and traditional medicines.
On an intelligent Silk Road, Xi proposed deepening cooperation on training in various fields.
On a peaceful Silk Road, he suggested that countries concerned should deepen cooperation on security matters, implement the concept of a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security in Asia, and promote the building of a security governance mode with Asian characteristics.
China's trade with countries participating in the Belt and Road initiative surpassed $1 trillion in 2015, accounting for a quarter of its total foreign trade, Xi said.
Over 70 countries and international organizations have taken part in the Belt and Road initiative, and 30 of them have signed cooperation deals with China to jointly push forward the initiative over the past three years.
Summing up the early harvests of the Belt and Road initiative, Xi said Chinese enterprises' direct investment in 49 countries along the economic corridor reached nearly $15 billion in 2015, up 18 percent from the previous year, while those countries' investments in China exceeded $8.2 billion, up 25 percent.
China has inked production capacity cooperation deals with 20 countries and jointly set up 46 overseas economic cooperation zones in 17 Belt and Road countries, with total Chinese investments topping $14 billion and creating 60,000 local jobs.
Meanwhile, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank began operations with 57 active participant countries, and the Silk Road Fund and China-Eurasia Economic Cooperation Fund were also established.
The Belt and Road initiative's primary planning and deployment have been completed and are taking root and entering a stage of intensive cultivation for sustained development, Xi said.
Also on Wednesday, after talks between Xi and his Uzbek counterpart, Islam Karimov, China and Uzbekistan upgraded their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.
The two countries also outlined the cooperation plan for their new partnership in areas like political mutual trust and support, the China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, national and regional security, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and collaboration on international affairs.
The upgrade was based on the "unprecedented high standard of China-Uzbekistan high-level interaction, political mutual trust and win-win cooperation" they have achieved since establishing a strategic partnership in 2012, said a joint statement.
The Chinese president is in Uzbekistan for a State visit. He will also attend the 16th meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Heads of State on June 23 and 24. Uzbekistan is the third and final stop of Xi's three-nation tour, which has taken him to Serbia and Poland.