Xinjiang benefits from opening-up policy
Trucks from Kazakhstan parked at a foreign trade company in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, August 4, 2018. (Xinhua Photo)
Meanwhile, China's Xinhua news agency on Wednesday reported that Xinjiang has been reaping benefits of the policy of opening-up of the region under President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Xinjiang borders eight countries and has a host of ports involved in international trade on the ancient Silk Road. The authorities have enhanced opening-up efforts in recent years amid the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Xinhua.
Positioned on the forefront of China's western areas, Horgos, a major land pass in Xinjiang, has seen a robust increase in foreign trade. A total of 2,055 inbound and outbound China-Europe freight trains passed through Horgos Port last year, the report said.
In the first month of this year, Xinjiang's total foreign trade stood at 13.94 billion yuan (about two billion U.S. dollars), up 11.7 percent year on year, according to customs authorities in Urumqi, the autonomous region's capital.
Meanwhile, three comprehensive bonded zones, located in Xinjiang's Alataw Pass, Kashgar, and the regional capital Urumqi, saw their combined foreign trade value rising more than 40 percent year-on-year in January.
Last year, imports and exports between Xinjiang and 36 countries along the BRI increased by 13.5 percent year-on-year to about 291.5 billion yuan.
