Building a New Silk Road

By HU YUE

Building a New Silk Road

By HU YUE

The first China-Eurasia Expo attempts to boost economic ties between west China, Asia and Europe

The first China-Eurasia Expo brought 50,000 businessmen together with 300 high-level officials from China and around 30 foreign countries and regions to promote further economic cooperation in Central Asia.

Delegates met from September 1-5 in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China for the expo, which was upgraded this year from the 19-year-old China Urumqi Foreign Relations and Trade Fair.

The upgrade is an all-round expansion in area, level and scale of the original fair, and it made the expo an important stage for exchanges in trade, investment and fnancial cooperation between Asia and Europe.

Xinjiang, covering one sixth of China’s land area, borders eight countries, including Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Vice Premier Li Keqiang said Xinjiang is at the frontier of China’s opening up to the west, and the government has rolled out a series of favorable policies to propel economic prosperity of the region.

The expo witnessed 178 domestic investment projects in Xinjiang, worth 185 billion yuan ($28.9 billion), soaring 77.9 percent from last year’s fair. International cooperation is also deepening. For example, China and Turkey signed a deal to build an industrial park in Urumqi to lure investors from the textile, food processing and hi-tech sectors of Turkey.

“We chose Xinjiang because of its great growth potential, rich resources and geographic advantages,” said Volkan Ozturk, a Turkish representative of the venture project. “We hope to take Xinjiang as a springboard to break into the markets of China and central Asia.”

To bolster Europe-Asia bonds, countries involved need to build a transparent market environment and remove restriction barriers, as well as strengthen coordinated efforts in infrastructure construction, including roads, railways, fight routes and telecom networks, said Li.

Moreover, it is necessary to enhance cooperation in resource exploration, as well as tourism, manufacturing, environmental protection and fnancial industry, he added.

Muratbek Imanaliev, Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said the expo also serves as a platform to help regional governments and business leaders solve tough issues like energy exploitation and environmental protection while enhancing inter-government cooperation.

Financial cooperation

Participants at the China-Eurasia Economic Development and Cooperation Forum held at the expo believed finance would be a key area where China can significantly improve cooperation with countries in Asia and Europe.

Ma Delun, Vice Governor of the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, said, “There is growing need for the countries to strengthen monetary policy coordination and safeguard regional fnancial safety and stability.”

“Meanwhile, we must press ahead with trade settlement in local currencies and simplify procedures for bilateral trade and investments,” he said.

“In addition, it is imperative to promote financial innovation and opening up of fnancial markets, and accelerate fnancial integration in the region,” he added. “We also encourage frms and fnancial institutions to build a global presence.”

China’s efforts to broaden its fnancial connections with the rest of the world are already underway. So far this year, China has inked a string of currency swap agreements with Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Kazakhstan in a move to fend off currency risks.

In June 2010, the country widened its pilot program of cross-border trade settlement in the yuan to cover 20 provincial regions, including Xinjiang. By the end of July 2011, Xinjiang had conducted 18.9 billion yuan ($3 billion) worth of yuan settlement in cross-border trade with 18 countries and region.

Moreover, the government in October 2010 allowed foreign enterprises to make cross-border investments in the yuan in Xinjiang, the frst and only such scheme in the country.

Bold Javkhlan, first deputy governor of the central bank of Mongolia, said Mongolia is researching the possibility of holding the yuan as part of its foreign exchange reserves.

WANG FEI

WANG FEI

“With a rapidly growing economy, Mongolia has huge demands for investments from China,” he said. “We hope Chinese financial institutions and companies can expand their footprint to Mongolia.”

Cai E’sheng, Vice Chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said the Central Government will also extend remarkable financial support to Xinjiang, a vanguard of the country’s opening-up campaign to the west.

“Vigorous efforts will be made to support infrastructure construction, private businesses and foreign trade frms, and innovative fnancial products in the region,”he said.

Agricultural boom

While China gears up to shore up the economy of Xinjiang, it is well aware that agriculture is the foundation of its economic take-off.

“Food safety is posing a daunting challenge to the world’s future,” said Niu Dun, Vice Minister of Agriculture, at a subforum on agricultural cooperation.

“Addressing the serious problem requires Asian and European countries to join hands and deepen cooperation.”

“China is ready to make contributions to grain security in the region by reinforcing agricultural management and technology training,” he said. “Besides this, China will make stiff efforts to expand imports and exports of agricultural products with trade partners.”

“The expo, for example, can provide an effective vehicle for trade of farm produce and agricultural machinery exhibitions,”added Niu.

“We also hope to accelerate regional exchanges in bio-technologies and crossborder cooperation between enterprises,” he said.

In recent years, Xinjiang has been pushing for agricultural cooperation with more than 60 foreign countries and regions. For instance, the region has introduced advanced technologies from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to cure its alkaline soils. In 2003, China and Israel jointly launched an arid agriculture project in Xinjiang to promote greenhouse planting and drip irrigation techniques.

Qian Zhi, Vice Chairman of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said,“Xinjiang is gearing up to build a sound agricultural trade environment and encourages regional exchanges in planting, breeding and agricultural technology research and development.”

“It is also necessary to establish an agricultural information platform to notify investors and traders about policies, tariffs and animal and plant quarantines,” he added.

Saktash Khasenov, Vice Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, said, “We will further tighten agricultural cooperation with China, especially Xinjiang, to offer more environment-friendly products to consumers of both countries.”

As part of the agricultural cooperation between the two countries, the Animal Science Academy of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 2009 joined hands with Kazakhstan Agricultural Academy of Sciences to research cattle and sheep breeding, as well as improvements to grasslands.

Tourism vitality

For centuries, Xinjiang was a prominent stop on the Silk Road, an ancient trade route linking China and the Western world. Today, it is regaining luster as a tourist destination in northwest China.

The history of the Silk Road has added appeal to the tourism industry of the countries along the ancient route, said Dai Bin, President of China Tourism Academy, at a sub-forum on tourism.

According to Dai, in 2010 international tourists traveling outside their home countries totaled 935 million, 71 percent of whom went to the Asia-Europe Continent.

“But tourism of the route has yet to fulfll its potential due to the infrastructure bottleneck and a lack of regional cooperation,” he said.

A total of 12 countries including China, Iran and India have joined the world cultural heritage status application for the Silk Road. The 12 nations account for 41.9 percent of the world’s population, but only 4.1 percent of airports, 18.5 percent of railway length and 8.8 percent of road length.

“As a result, we need to further improve infrastructure, tighten policy coordination and establish an effective mechanism for regular cooperation,” said Dai. “The goal is to build an attractive line of travel with cultural and commercial attractions.”

Zhu Shanzhong, Vice Chairman of China National Tourism Administration, said, “China has attached great importance to tourism cooperation with European and Asian nations. As it helped the world economy move out of the shadow of the fnancial crisis, tourism has become a signifcant driving force for global growth.”

In order to revitalize the Silk Road, we must avoid protectionism of tourism trade and step up efforts in marketing and branding of the tourism products, he said.

“Xinjiang, which makes up at least one third of the more than 7,000-km-long Silk Road, boasts rich cultural heritage, and has a chance to shine as a tourism hotbed,” he said.

“China will spare no effort to propel a tourism boom in the region,” he added.“Measures will be implemented to support development of tourism products, promotion campaigns and trainings of tour guides and management talents.”