THE proposal to build a Silk Road economic belt has received proactive responses from Central Asian countries and regions along the route.

The city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, for example, has increasingly closer ties with China, according to Deputy Mayor Jamshed Urakov. Besides trade in numerous products made in China, many local people are learning Chinese to facilitate business operations. The city of Mary, Turkmenistan, also welcomed China’s participation in local infrastructure construction. As the capital city of Mary Province, Mary plays an important role in the natural gas link between China and Turkmenistan.

Opening Convenient Routes

Further west, Andrejs Pildegovics, state secretary of the Latvian Foreign Ministry, has also expressed his delight at the proposal. After visiting Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, he was impressed by Urumqi, the capital city that has successfully retained its ethnic features in the course of modernization. In September 2013, he led a delegation of representatives from six Latvian companies to the city for the third China-Eurasia Expo, seeking cooperation opportunities with China and Central Asian countries in the field of transport, IT, education and culture. In fact, since 2008 some Latvian companies in the transport and telecom sectors have established business ties with Xinjiang to expand the Central Asian markets.

Mr. Pildegovics’ father formerly worked at the embassy of Latvia in China. He has long been engaged in researching Chinese culture and is now the dean of the Confucius Institute at Latvia University. “Influenced by my father, I also love Chinese culture. My wife can speak Chinese, too. We are all ‘China hands’,” said the state secretary. Of the 28 EU member states, Latvia has witnessed the fastest economic growth – its GDP rose by 4.5 percent for the first half of 2013. Latvia will take up presidency of the EU in 2015 and, according to Mr. Pildegovics, will make every effort to promote communication and cooperation among the EU, China and Central Asian countries.

Mutual benefit will be central to the role of the Silk Road economic belt – what one country or region may be lacking, another will be sure to supplement. Central and West Asian countries are generally weak in the textile industry, for example, while neighboring Xinjiang has advantages in this field due to foreign investment and industrial reorganization. In 2012, Xinjiang produced 28.26 million garments and 400,000 square meters of carpet. According to Liang Yong, director of the Economic and Information Commission of the autonomous region, Xinjiang will increase its garment exports to countries in Central and West Asia by building the Horgos special economic zone.

In recent years, China has established a number of special trade and finance zones like this along its border regions facing Central and West Asia. In 2011, two special economic zones were built in Kashgar and Horgos, two cities located to the north and south of Mount Tianshan. Each zone receives a government subsidy of RMB 600 million per year for infrastructure construction. At present, the two remote land port cities have become focal spots of the Central Asian trade circle, with increasing influx of manpower, capital and other resources.

Kashgar, or Kashi, an important city on the ancient Silk Road, is 400 kilometers from Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, and 700 kilometers from Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan. In fact, within a 1,500-kilometer range, routes out of Kashgar can reach eight capital cities of foreign counties, making it better connected than Urumqi. The finance and trade zone in Kashgar is the first to be built in China’s border regions. When completed, it will become a regional financial hub for Central and South Asia, offering equity transaction, futures and bond trading.

Located on the border between China and Kazakhstan, Horgos Special Economic Development Zone covers an area of 73 square kilometers. Its land port area contains many foreign trade gateways, such as the Horgos International Border Cooperation Center, the China-Kazakhstan natural gas pipeline and China-Kazakhstan railway and highway.

In the future, regional cooperation will be strengthened via economic and trade policies. According to Radnaasumbereliyn Gonchigdorj, vice-chairman of Mongolia’s State Great Hural (Parliament), Mongolia, bordering Xinjiang to the northeast, has engaged in economic and trade cooperation with Xinjiang via its four open ports. “Now, we are considering developing the area between Mongolia’s west and China’s Xinjiang,” said Gonchigdorj, “In that way the area will play a positive role for both parties, and bring about practical economic benefits.”