Zhao made the comments on the sidelines of the Business Development Forum in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, in late July. The forum is sponsored by the Chinese government and the ADB. It is part of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation program.

Zhao also suggested that the Central Asian economies streamline their customs clearance procedures to facilitate cross-border trade.

"Our study shows that time for customs clearance on average accounts for 40 percent of the total time for goods delivery and we are working on a program to help those countries unify standards and procedures for customs clearance," he said.