The model of China Cambodia practical cooperation (jointly building the "the Belt and Road", the first site), the West Port Special Zone

Internal aerial photo of Xigang Special Zone. The overall planned area of Xigang Special Zone is 11.13 square kilometers, and currently 6 square kilometers have been developed.

The General Tire Factory is the largest investment project in the Xigang Special Economic Zone. The picture shows a workshop quality inspector working at the General Tire Factory.

The above pictures are all taken by Anu from the Asia Pacific Center Branch

Before 7 o'clock in the morning, Sihanouk City in Sihanouk Province, Cambodia was shrouded in a drizzle. The city center is still sparsely populated, but outside the gate of the Sihanouk Port Special Economic Zone, which is more than ten kilometers away, there is already a bustling traffic. It is the morning rush hour for work, and motorcycles and cars continue to flow on the road leading to Xigang Special Zone. Various raincoats form a flowing scenery.

Xigang Special Zone is one of the first batch of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones approved by China, and is a national level economic cooperation zone between the governments of China and Cambodia. Since the "the Belt and Road" initiative was proposed 10 years ago, the West Harbor Special Economic Zone has developed rapidly. Now 175 enterprises have settled in, providing nearly 30000 jobs. The booming West Port Special Zone is a model for China Cambodia practical cooperation, which reflects the vitality and vitality of jointly building the "the Belt and Road".

"After the proposal of jointly building the the Belt and Road, the development of Xigang Special Economic Zone has been accelerated"

The roads in Xigang Special Economic Zone are wide and tidy, with factories, office buildings, and staff dormitories arranged in rows. Supporting facilities such as neighborhood centers, one-stop service centers, legal service centers, and health service centers are readily available. It's hard to imagine that this place was still barren before the foundation was laid in February 2008, and the first factory building was only completed in October 2008.

"After the proposal of jointly building the 'the Belt and Road', the development of the Xigang Special Zone has been faster, and the number of enterprises settled in the zone has increased by more than twice as much as in 2013." Chen Jiangang, chairman of the Xigang Special Zone Company, told reporters, "The former Xigang Special Zone was dominated by light industrial enterprises and used less electricity. Now there are more and more heavy industrial enterprises. In order to ensure power consumption, we have built our own thermal power plant."

Adjacent to the Xigang Special Zone Thermal Power Plant is the modern production workshop of General Tire Technology Co., Ltd. The vulcanization and molding machines in the workshop roared, and the staff put the raw materials into the molding machine. In less than 40 seconds, a 20 inch tire was formed.

Universal Tire will settle in the Xigang Special Zone in 2022, with a planned total land area of nearly 180000 square meters. The general manager of the company, Tao Guozhong, told reporters that after the factory is completed and put into operation, it can produce 5 million semi steel tires and 900000 full steel tires annually, and is expected to create 1600 job opportunities in the local area. Former Minister of Labor and Vocational Training of Cambodia, Yi Senxing, stated that the production of the universal tire project will drive the development of the local rubber planting industry, promote the formation of industrial clusters, and further promote local employment and economic development.

Sihanouk Province is adjacent to the Gulf of Thailand and has Cambodia's largest deep-water seaport. Jiafugao Co., Ltd., which mainly produces holiday decorations and gifts, entered the West Port Special Administrative Region in 2013. The CEO of the company, Lamar, told reporters that the West Port Special Zone is close to the port, and logistics transportation is very convenient. The facilities are constantly improving, providing a good environment for the development of enterprises. Thanks to the platform advantage of Xigang Special Zone, the company's production has grown at a rate of 10% annually.

In 2022, the total import and export volume of enterprises in the Xigang Special Zone reached 2.493 billion US dollars, accounting for approximately 4.8% of Cambodia's national trade volume. The economic contribution rate of Xigang Special Zone to Sihanouk Province exceeds 50%. "The development of Sihanouk Province cannot be separated from the West Port Special Zone." Guo Zongren, the Governor of Sihanouk Province, said that the thriving West Port Special Zone has become a pillar of the local economy.

In a building close to the comprehensive service center building of the West Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the achievements exhibition of the 10th anniversary of the the Belt and Road Initiative is open to the public. The exhibition comprehensively presents the fruitful achievements of the West Hong Kong Special Economic Zone with the joint support of the leaders and governments of China and Cambodia, through a combination of pictures, videos, and physical objects. In May this year, when attending the opening ceremony of the exhibition, the then Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said: "The development achievements of the West Harbor Special Zone are an important part of the achievements of Cambodia China cooperation in building the" the Belt and Road "."

"The model of combining talent support with the development of special zones is worth learning from"

In a corner of the Xigang Special Economic Zone, there is the Sihanouk Port Business School. The college was jointly applied for by Wuxi Vocational and Technical College of Commerce and Xigang Special Zone Company, and enrollment began in November 2019.

Anna, a second year student, comes from a rural area in Chajiao Province, Cambodia. After graduating from high school, she chose to further her studies at Sihanouk Port Business School. While majoring in Business Administration, she also took elective courses such as Chinese, English, and computer science. Due to rapid progress in Chinese, she has found a job as a Chinese translator in the West Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, with a monthly salary of over $600.

"School tuition fees are fully waived, providing excellent learning and work opportunities for impoverished students like me." Anna said, "I hope to find a better job after graduation through hard work and help my family improve their lives."

"After mastering a certain level of Chinese and technical skills, our students can earn a monthly salary of nearly 400 US dollars. After graduation, their monthly salary can reach 600-800 US dollars." Li Chuanbin, Executive President of Sihanouk Port Business School, told reporters, "The development of the West Port Special Economic Zone requires high-quality talents, and many of the students we cultivate have become management backbone of enterprises."

Xigang Special Zone Company also collaborates with Wuxi Vocational and Technical College of Commerce to jointly support the training of Cambodian international students. Sunshine is a native of Sihanouk Province. After studying abroad at Wuxi Vocational and Technical College and returning to China, she came to work on the Cambodia Jingang Expressway project and currently manages two service areas. "Before, my family didn't have a motorcycle at home, so I had to walk half an hour to school. Now that my salary is high, I bought a car." Sunshine is full of hope for his future life, "and if I save another year or two, I can build a new house!"

The Sino Cambodian Friendship Institute of Technology in Sihanouk Province, also located in the Xigang Special Economic Zone, was built with the assistance of the Chinese government. The courses mainly focus on skill training and offer multiple majors such as accounting and finance, information technology, and power engineering. Currently, there are 1125 students enrolled. The director of the Technical Training Office of the college, Lao Heng, told reporters that the reason for choosing to run a school in the Xigang Special Zone is mainly to provide talent to the enterprises here. The school will provide short-term or long-term training according to the needs of the enterprises. "Currently, 80% -90% of students in schools work in special zone enterprises. Some students choose to study at the college just to work in the Xigang Special Zone."

Cambodian Minister of State Bishop Pohn said that among many industrial parks in Cambodia, only the West Port Special Zone has a training center, and "the model of combining talent support with the development of the special zone is worth learning.".

"Nowadays, the popularity of the village is getting stronger and everyone's income is also increasing."

Buteng Village, Medelang Township, Boreno County is adjacent to the West Port Special Zone. As soon as they entered the village, the reporter saw Nia's small shop, with a spacious storefront and neatly arranged shelves of drinks, snacks, seasonings, etc. Nia's hometown is in Gongbu Province, and she and her husband have been in Sihanouk Province for over 10 years. "Previously, everything here was lacking, especially water and electricity," she said. "After the construction of the Xigang Special Zone, people's living conditions have been getting better and better."

When Nia first arrived in Buten Village, she worked at a shoe and hat factory, and her husband sold coffee. With the development of Xigang Special Zone, the population in the surrounding area is increasing, and the couple sees more business opportunities from it. Nia's storefront gradually expanded, and her husband also started contracting construction projects in the West Port Special Administrative Region. "The popularity of the village is getting stronger now, and everyone's income is also increasing," Niya said.

Walking along the flat cement road, new buildings can be seen everywhere. Pang Shaliang, who is in his 70s, is sitting in his yard chatting with his neighbors, and the two-story building behind him is particularly eye-catching. Pang Shaliang told reporters that this house was built in 2022 and has over 10 rooms on each floor. Because he was optimistic about the advantage of Buteng Village's proximity to the Xigang Special Zone, he specifically built buildings here to rent out to workers in the Xigang Special Zone, and rented the empty space in the yard to transport drivers as parking spaces.

According to Mizhan, the head of Medelang Township, the population of the township has increased significantly in recent years, with over 2000 households and a population of over 7000. "The Xigang Special Economic Zone has attracted a large number of migrant workers. Many of these small shops, clothing stores, pharmacies, and rental houses in the village have been built in recent years." He sighed, "Who would have thought that more than a decade ago, Buteng Village was filled with thatched huts everywhere, so remote that outsiders rarely came in."

Local villagers used to make a living by farming and fishing, but now more and more villagers are working in the Xigang Special Zone and have stable income. Pei Jin is responsible for power maintenance in a company in the Xigang Special Economic Zone. After 7 years of employment, he has grown from an ordinary employee to a mature technician. Now, he has replaced his motorcycle with a car and built a new house at home. He said, "In the past, the roads in the village were very narrow, all dirt roads. Now everyone's life is getting better and better, and everything is different."

"70% of households in Boreno County have members working in the West Port Special Administrative Region," said Mizhan. Driven by the West Port Special Administrative Region, Medelang Township has transformed from a poverty-stricken township to the wealthiest township in Boreno County, with almost every household owning two or three motorcycles.

The construction of the West Port Special Zone is deeply integrated into the economic and social development of Sihanouk Province and even Cambodia, and has become a vivid practice of China Cambodia joint construction of the "the Belt and Road". Chen Jiangang stated that in the future, the Xigang Special Economic Zone will continue to promote high-quality development and make greater contributions to building a community with a shared future between China and Cambodia.