The Silk Road International Expo facilitates all-round two-way opening up with links running eastward and westward over land and sea

The 3rd Silk Road International Exposition was kicked off in Xi’an on May 11th. With its links to the Expo, Shaanxi Province has endeavored to build a stereoscopic Silk Road channel and foster the platform for incubation and cooperation. On this basis, a new phase for the all-round two-way opening up with links running eastward and westward over land and sea has now been springing up in northwest China.

“Were it not for the Belt and Road Initiative, we would not have achieved the innovative exchanges and mutual development with the Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University.” According to Shayakmetova, the dean of the School of Agriculture of North Kazakhstan State University, Kazakhstan, with the continuous opening-up of China, scientists from Kazakhstan and China have now established close partnerships to assault the fortified barrier of scientific research on agriculture, making joint efforts to attain more benefits for the people of both countries.

In two days, 57 agricultural seeds from China will be planted in the test fields of the North Kazakhstan State University, while 57 kinds of crop seeds from Kazakhstan have been sowed in Yangling Agricultural High-tech Industry Demonstration Zone. “We are planning to expand the experimental field from 3 hectares to 20 hectares next year. Since the quality of Kazakhstan wheat ranks in the top 3 in the world, we hope to realize the localization of these high-quality wheats in China as soon as possible, so as to better play up to Chinese people’s expectation for a higher quality of life.” She expressed.

Not long before the opening ceremony of the 3rd Silk Road Expo, a piece of good news had been released from Britain, one of the guest countries of honor in this Expo, that the first direct air route from Xi’an to London was officially opened when GS7987 Flight of Tianjin Airlines landed at London Heathrow Airport.

The opening of this air route was another grand event for Xi’an followed by the opening of 14 passenger air routes covering Xi’an-Prague and 3 cargo air routes including Xi’an-Chicago in 2017. This route can not only widen the accessibility of Shaanxi’s International Transportation Corridor, but strengthen the power of the Silk Road Economic Belt in the allocation of global economic resources. According to Ren Baoping, the dean of the School of Economics and Management of Northwest University.

“By developing the hub economy, gateway economy and flow-ability economy, the population, resources and information have been gathering together. On this basis, a modernized economic system with Shaanxi characteristics is taking shape. Shaanxi takes the annual Silk Road Expo as a perfect opportunity, to give full play to its irreplaceable role in the opening-up and the connection to the west and east.” Ren added.

According to Zhu Tong, the standing vice-chairman of the Britain-Shaanxi Economic and Trade Culture Promotion Council, Xi’an began to carry out the “Longmen Plan” in financial fields this year. With the cooperation of banks including China Citic Bank, financial experts would be invited to guide the enterprises in Xi’an and boost the development of a local substantial economy leveraged by the capital market, all of which made a lasting impression on him.

Seen through the Silk Road Expo, Xi’an was working on building the industrial cluster pillared by information and semiconductors, new energy vehicles, aviation, commercial and trade tourism, modern services and cultural tourism. The Shanghai Stock Exchange could offer an internationalized development platform to these enterprises. According to Cao Jian, the deputy general manager of Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Nowadays, the Silk Road Expo has become a significant medium for communication among governments, cooperation among enterprises, non-government exchanges and interaction among sister cities of countries and regions joining in the Belt and Road construction. Shaanxi will strive to develop the gateway economy, give full play to its roles of opening-up, gathering, spreading and intercommunication, as well as put into place the policies of high-level liberalization and facilitation on trade and investment, so as to build a new phase of all-round two-way opening up with links running eastward and westward over land and sea.