Seizing New Opportunities and Realizing New Achievements to Shine New Business Cards - A Glimpse of the Construction of the Core Area of the Silk Road Economic Belt

Urumqi, September 2 (Xinhua) - Xinjiang, the core area of the ancient Silk Road, has been connected to China and foreign countries for thousands of years. Entering a new era, the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" has created a new situation of China's opening up, and also provided Xinjiang with unprecedented new opportunities.

In recent years, as the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, Xinjiang has continuously promoted the deepening, wide-ranging, and all-round expansion of opening up to the outside world, achieving tangible and significant achievements. In the first half of the year, the total import and export value of Xinjiang's foreign trade reached 149.62 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 65.2%, accelerating the formation of a new highland of inland and border opening.

[New Opportunity: Moving from the Northwest Frontier to the Open Frontier]

Over two thousand years ago, on the ancient Silk Road, the sound of camel bells echoing in the mountains and the wisps of solitary smoke drifting in the desert accompanied the footsteps of friendly exchanges between China and Asian and European countries.

More than 2000 years later, a series of China EU trains will be like "iron and steel caravans", bringing the Chinese concept of joint construction and sharing to the win-win cooperation in the Eurasian continent, and injecting new impetus into the high-quality joint construction of the "the Belt and Road". Among them, more than half of China Europe trains transit through Alataw Pass Port and Khorgos Port in Xinjiang.

Solar cells, ketchup, PVC materials and other products "go out", mineral products, edible oil, wheat and other products continue to "come in"... As of August, the number of China Europe trains passing through Alashankou Port and Khorgos Port in the year exceeded 4000 and 5000 respectively, which can reach more than 20 countries such as Germany and Poland.

The police on duty at the Khorgos Entry Exit Border Checkpoint are checking the export commodity vehicles.

In order to provide stable transportation capacity support for the smooth operation of China Europe freight trains, Xinjiang Railway and Customs departments jointly promote new railway clearance models such as "digital ports" and "customs rail connections", further reducing the duration of train stays at ports. At the same time, they closely coordinate and meet with relevant departments of countries along the route to continuously improve the level of precise transportation organization and transportation channel capabilities.

Ma Chunlei, Chairman of Xinjiang International Land Port Co., Ltd., said that now, the comprehensive heavy container rate of the China Europe freight train on the return journey has stabilized at a high level, the balance between the return and return journey continues to strengthen, and the operation guarantee mechanism is constantly improving. "Welcoming customers from all over the world and dispersing goods from all over the world, Xinjiang is moving from the northwest border to the forefront of development."

The modern infrastructure consisting of railways, highways, and dense air routes has built Xinjiang's determination and confidence to increase its opening-up to the outside world. At present, a group of projects and facilities with large investment volume, long industrial chain, and strong radiation drive are accelerating in the north and south of Tianshan.

On the north side of the runway at Urumqi Diwobao International Airport, the construction of the largest single building in the airport renovation and expansion project, Terminal T4, is underway. The reporter saw at the construction site that the terminal has taken shape and will become a new gateway for inbound and outbound travelers in the future.

"We currently have over 1000 on duty workers to ensure that the terminal will be put into operation next year," Chu Shaolong, the technical director of the China Construction Third Bureau project, told reporters. As an important support for the transportation hub of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, the Urumqi Airport renovation and expansion project, after completion, can meet the demand for an annual passenger throughput of 48 million and a cargo and mail throughput of 550000 tons.

At present, Xinjiang has opened 118 bilateral international road transportation routes, constructed 22 cross-border international optical cables, and initially formed a six in one interconnected network system of highways, railways, airports, communications, pipelines, and power grids. The addition of the Biedili Port, promotion of the construction of the China Central Asia natural gas pipeline D line, support for the construction of the cross Caspian Sea international transportation corridor, and promotion of negotiations on the docking of the China Kyrgyzstan Ukraine railway project

[New Action: Open Platform Agglomeration and Diversified Business Model Upgrade]

Xinjiang not only serves as a stop and transfer station, but also strives to create a starting and ending station.

On September 2, the team of the Xinhua News Agency's "the Belt and Road Global Travel" report team left the country from Khorgos Port in Xinjiang, opening the international section of the trip. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Muzi

This year, Xinjiang has clearly set the goal of building a new development pattern through services, while developing traditional competitive advantages such as ports and border trade, and also making efforts to cultivate new forms of foreign trade and integrated development of trade industries.

At present, there are 7 border trade zones in Xinjiang that have been approved by the People's Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to operate, and several trade zones, including Baktu, Alashankou and Khorgos, have been reopened.

In the first half of the year, more than 1400 vehicles of bulk commodities were imported into the border trade between China and Kazakhstan, with a trade volume of 125 million yuan. The "border trade+on-site processing" model benefited enterprises and increased the income of border residents. After confirming the identity of border residents through relevant departments, local citizens can register on their mobile mini programs and complete the daily import declaration of 8000 yuan duty-free quota with just a few clicks.

Tourists are visiting the Silk Road Cultural Commodity City of the Kazakhstani Border Trade in Bakhtu. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ding Lei

Recently, the People's Government of the Autonomous Region issued an implementation plan for the pilot work of market procurement and trade methods in Alashankou and Urumqi, ensuring that the pilot policies are implemented and effective as soon as possible, and helping to stabilize the scale and structure of foreign trade this year.

At present, two pilot markets, Alashankou Eurasian Trade City and Urumqi Border Hotel Trade Market, are intensifying merchant registration. More than 300 registered merchants and more than 30 registered enterprises have been established.

The booming development of cross-border e-commerce has also injected new momentum into the rapid growth of Xinjiang's foreign trade.

In the Kashgar Comprehensive Bonded Zone, every day we see scenes of busy factories, batches of modern enterprises taking root, and vehicles loaded with goods shuttling back and forth... The park completed cross-border e-commerce goods worth 1.29 billion yuan in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 291%.

Zhongshun E-commerce Co., Ltd. specializes in foreign trade business. "We gather goods from the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta to Kashgar, and then send them to Central Asia, Europe, and other places. Currently, we process 120000 e-commerce orders every day," said General Manager Zhang Qi.

Dong Youhua, secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Kashgar Development and Reform Commission, said that the market demand of countries along the "the Belt and Road" is strong, and we are accelerating the construction of characteristic industrial clusters facing Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia and Europe. "An open and developing Xinjiang will bring more opportunities for regional economic growth, which is expected."

Since last year, Xinjiang has been granted three new cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones, two market procurement trade pilot zones, one national import trade promotion innovation demonstration zone, one second-hand car business export region, and one domestic and foreign trade integration pilot zone. Various open platforms have gathered and integrated, helping Xinjiang transform from a "channel economy" to a "port economy" and "industrial economy".

[New business card: The accelerated formation of highlands for inland and border opening]

The initiative of jointly building the "the Belt and Road" runs through Asia, Europe and Africa. On the one hand, it is the active East Asian economic circle, and on the other hand, it is the developed European economic circle. In the middle, it is located in the vast Eurasian hinterland of Central Asia, with huge economic development potential.

Xinjiang is connected to Central Asia by mountains and rivers. Since the beginning of this year, while continuously expanding the space for economic and trade cooperation with the five Central Asian countries, the local government has also been continuously improving the industrial chain, supply chain, and logistics chain of "attracting from the west to the east" and "connecting from the east to the west", seeking to open up to the outside world in a wider range of fields and at a deeper level.

In recent days, Khorgos Port has been a busy scene, and many domestic cars have orderly and fast customs clearance. Cars from Shanghai, Shandong, Henan and other places are constantly being shipped to countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

"The quality and service of domestic cars are constantly improving, and they are increasingly popular in Central Asia." Ji Wenxu, director of the border inspection department of the Khorgos Exit Entry Border Inspection Station, said that as of August 27, the number of commercial vehicles exported through Khorgos Road Port has reached 66000 vehicles this year, an increase of more than 120% year on year.

At the Alashankou Port, the China Europe freight train is gathering and ready to depart.

As a border province open to the west in China, Xinjiang has 11 national level ports facing Central Asia, closely connecting two markets and two types of resources. Reporters came from Khorgos, Alataw Pass, Baktu and Irkeshtan ports a few days ago and saw the scene of frequent personnel exchanges and close border trade exchanges.

According to the statistics of Urumqi Customs, in the first half of the year, Xinjiang's import and export to countries along the "the Belt and Road" reached 138.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 68.2%; The import and export to the five Central Asian countries reached 119.66 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 75.1%.

In the Alashankou Comprehensive Bonded Zone, a train loaded with imported wheat from Kazakhstan is slowly entering the bulk grain railway dedicated line. The Alashankou Comprehensive Bonded Zone Bulk Grain Railway Special Line has a unloading capacity of 600 tons per hour and a daily warehousing turnover capacity of 6000 tons. It can undertake the unloading, storage, transportation and other services of imported grain crops such as wheat, sunflower seeds, and flaxseeds in Central Asia.

Li Chenlin, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Alashankou City, said that we are actively building an important base for grain reserve and processing in the Silk Road Economic Belt. In the future, we will further improve the grain storage capacity of the comprehensive bonded zone and the infrastructure construction of the organic agricultural and sideline product processing industry, and continuously promote the grain processing industry to move towards technology, modernization, and branding.

With the implementation of various achievements of the China Asia Summit, more and more agricultural products from Central Asia are entering China from Xinjiang. Li Qinghua, Deputy Director of Urumqi Customs, introduced that Xinjiang is constructing a regional biosafety cooperation management information platform, which integrates and summarizes risk information and management information in the field of animals and plants, as well as inspection and quarantine requirements for agricultural products from various countries. Services are provided to import and export trade enterprises in both Chinese and Russian languages.

Promoting reform and development through openness. Aierken Tunyazi, President of the Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said that Xinjiang will give better play to its regional advantages, actively serve and integrate into the new development pattern, further increase economic and trade cooperation with countries along the "the Belt and Road", and strive to build a highland for inland and border opening.

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