High Quality Development Research Tour: Moving from Border and Hinterland to "Connecting Rivers and Seas"

Slight drizzle, the sound of a whistle. On September 14th, at the gathering center of the China Europe freight train in Urumqi International Land Port Area, a series of China Europe freight trains completed their installation and are waiting to travel westward. "Starting from here, it takes 2 days to arrive in Kazakhstan, 8 days to arrive in Russia, and 16 days to arrive in the Netherlands," said Lu Shan, Deputy General Manager of Urumqi International Land Port Co., Ltd.

Xinjiang, located in the hinterland of the Eurasian continent, is an important node of the ancient Silk Road. For thousands of years, envoys have looked at each other on the way, and business travel has never stopped on the way. In the new era, with the deepening of the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road", the "Camel Bell" has become an endless "Iron Camel Brigade", and the ancient Silk Road is revitalized. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the "the Belt and Road" initiative. Standing at a new starting point, Xinjiang is promoting its opening up to the outside world in a deeper, broader and all-round way, and making every effort to build an "Asia Europe golden channel".

Xinjiang, which strives to build a highland for inland opening and border opening, takes advantage of the high-quality construction of the "the Belt and Road" and moves from the border hinterland to the "river and sea".

Urumqi is the central city of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt and an important hub connecting the two major economic circles of Asia and Europe. By leveraging its geographical advantages, Urumqi has created a landmark project for the construction of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt - the Urumqi International Land Port Area. Following the development strategy of "gathering goods, building parks, and gathering industries", multiple functional areas such as the Urumqi Comprehensive Bonded Zone, the China Europe Train Assembly Center, and the Urumqi Multimodal Transport Center have been successively built, greatly enhancing the hub's carrying capacity.

"The collection and distribution capacity of the consolidation center is becoming stronger and stronger, and the annual freight volume of trains has remained above a thousand trains from less than a hundred at the beginning." Li Jiajie, Deputy General Manager of Xinjiang International Land Port Co., Ltd., said that as of July this year, the number of China Europe trains departing from Urumqi International Land Port has exceeded 7100, with 21 train routes operating, connecting 19 countries and regions in Europe and Asia.

Guided by Urumqi International Inland Port Zone, and supported by Kashgar and Khorgos Economic Development Zone, Xinjiang has become an open frontier from the western border area by linking the port economic belt.

Kashgar in southern Xinjiang is making every effort to build the Kashgar Economic Development Zone, which connects eight countries and Europe and Asia along the way. It has become a hot spot for investment and development. As an important component of the development zone, Kashgar Comprehensive Bonded Zone enjoys numerous preferential policies, attracting enterprises to develop here.

On September 15th, Kashgar Cross border E-commerce Exhibition and Trading Center, the first and largest single building cross-border e-commerce exhibition and trading center in southern Xinjiang, officially opened and put into operation. There is a wide variety of products from Europe, America, Southeast Asia and other places, attracting many consumers to come and choose. "By means of 'cross-border+taxed goods', we can bring good goods from all over the world to Kashgar," said Lu Ping, Executive Chairman of Dehang Group in Hainan Free Trade Zone. "Goods that are' far away 'have become' within reach '.

Standing in front of the big screen of the "Kashgar Comprehensive Bonded Zone Park Smart Logistics Management System", you can have a panoramic view of the number of vehicles entering and exiting, the type of business declared on the day, and other information. Kashgar Customs has significantly improved the efficiency of business flow by unifying the management of corresponding checkpoints such as regulatory workplaces, centralized inspection sites, and air cargo areas. "By relying on the 'integrated customs clearance' model and cooperating with appointment based customs clearance, goods can achieve efficient linkage and free flow," said Zhang Jun, head of the Comprehensive Business Department of Kashgar Customs.

According to customs statistics, from January to July this year, Kashgar achieved three good results in foreign trade, ranking first in the entire Xinjiang region. Among them, the total import and export value was 42.08 billion yuan, an increase of 127.7%, and the total trade value and growth rate ranked first in Xinjiang; The import and export trade volume of Kashgar Comprehensive Bonded Zone reached 21.82 billion yuan, ranking first among the four comprehensive bonded zones in Xinjiang for four consecutive months, with a year-on-year increase of 178%, surpassing 20 billion yuan three months earlier than last year.

Ge Hongliang, Deputy Director of the Management Committee of Kashgar Comprehensive Bonded Zone, said that the driving effect of the comprehensive bonded zone and its role in driving foreign trade growth are becoming increasingly prominent, and it has become a major platform for Kashgar's opening-up and a new highland for southern Xinjiang's opening-up. At the same time, the "Shuangxi Highway" has been completed, the China Europe regular train has been put into operation, and eight functional ports have been approved... Khorgos has become an international logistics hub and economic and trade cooperation platform welcomed by the "the Belt and Road" countries.

"In the first seven months of this year, the total import and export value of Xinjiang's foreign trade was 183.16 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 59.3%, which is 58.9 percentage points higher than the national average," said He Guoqing, a member of the Party Group and Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.