Gansu Province's foreign trade data for 2022 was released not long ago. The data show that the total foreign trade between Gansu and countries and regions along the Belt and Road increased by 23.8% year-on-year, accounting for 47.6% of the province's total foreign trade, which has been close to 50% for many consecutive years.

The Silk Road stretches for thousands of kilometers in Gansu. In history, there was a grand occasion of "envoys look at each other on the road, and business travelers never stop on the road". It has been an important traffic route connecting East and West since ancient times.

With the help of channel advantages, Gansu Province has seized the biggest development opportunity of the Belt and Road Initiative in recent years, and has become the frontier of opening to the west and south from the inland hinterland. New opportunities and a series of opening measures have brought new vitality to the ancient Silk Road.

Open tentacles keep extending

In the early spring, everything blooms. At the railway port container station in Lanzhou New District, the first state-level new area in Northwest China, gantry cranes rise and fall from time to time, and shuttle buses shuttle back and forth, creating a busy scene.

Not long ago, a China-Europe freight train loaded with barley, wheat bran, linseed and other goods arrived smoothly from Kazakhstan, and workers were busy unloading the goods. These goods will be processed into feed, oil and other products on the spot, and then sold across the country or re-exported abroad.

Lanzhou Haixiang Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is a local enterprise specializing in the production and sales of grain and feed processing. Most of the raw materials needed come from countries and regions such as Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The company was originally established in Xinjiang, but moved to Lanzhou New District in 2018. The most important thing is the convenient logistics conditions here. According to Zhang Qingping, the person in charge of the company, the China-Europe trains in Lanzhou New District have been running on a regular basis, providing a stable channel for raw material procurement. At the same time, it is closer to the domestic market, making products more competitive.

Connecting the river to the sea, the goods flow smoothly. With the help of international trains and air cargo flights, Gansu Province, which has long been located in the northwest corner, continues to open to the outside world. Up to now, Gansu Province has established international dry ports and international airports represented by Lanzhou and Wuwei, and formed "four-way and five" international freight corridors in Central Asia, Europe, South Asia, Western Land-Sea Corridor, and "Zhongjiwu". Among them, the "Zhongjiwu" new channel was included in the fourth batch of multimodal transport demonstration projects in 2022 by the Ministry of Transport.

Household appliances, clothing, electromechanical products from the eastern region and characteristic agricultural products and industrial raw materials from the western region gather in Gansu and go overseas; German automobiles, Russian timber, Kazakhstan barley, Southeast Asian tropical fruits and chilled aquatic products go overseas. These passages go deep into the country.

Since the first China-Europe Railway Express opened in 2015, we have accumulated trade cooperation with enterprises in more than 60 countries and regions in Central Asia, Europe, and Southeast Asia. The cargo transportation categories include electrolytic copper, wood, department stores, machinery and equipment, etc. Yang Ming, head of the commercial circulation department of Lanzhou New District Road Port Logistics Co., Ltd., said.

The smooth channel logistics has attracted relevant bulk commodity processing enterprises to settle down one after another. Taking this as an opportunity, many places in Gansu have built parks, collected goods, and gathered industries to promote the export-oriented economy to a new level. In Lanzhou, Gansu, a processing trade industry represented by grain, oil, timber, and electronic components has gradually formed, allowing local companies to integrate into the global industrial chain.

While actively introducing them, Gansu's traditional industries are also speeding up their overseas expansion under the Belt and Road Initiative. In December 2022, an international freight train carrying more than 1,000 tons of apple juice departed from Tianshui, Gansu, and arrived at Qingdao Port, where it was transferred to Cape Town, South Africa. European family dining table.

South Africa is already our largest export market. Compared with previous transportation methods, after the opening of this international train line, the transportation cost can be reduced by about 15%. Cui Ming, head of the Foreign Trade Department of Gansu Tianshui Great Wall Juice Group Co., Ltd., the producer of this batch of juices, said that the various policies and measures of the Belt and Road Initiative have supported the company's products to go overseas more smoothly. At present, their products have been sold to the European Union, Southeast Asia and other 30 countries. Many countries and regions.

Lanqia will make economic and trade exchanges better

Qian Jun, the second-level inspector of the Gansu Provincial Department of Commerce, said that at the moment when the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and economic globalization are being challenged, the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative has provided valuable development opportunities for the international community, and more governments and entrepreneurs are optimistic about the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative. vitality and potential. Open platforms such as the China-Europe Railway Express and the Lanzhou Trade Fair have enabled the cooperation of enterprises in countries and regions along the Belt and Road to deepen and solidify, create new sparks, and find new business opportunities in the crisis; traditional industries in the western region can accelerate their transformation and upgrading. The accelerated cultivation of emerging industries has made the economic and trade exchanges on the ancient Silk Road more "fine".

Affected by the epidemic in 2022, traditional sea and air transportation will be blocked, and more companies will choose to trade via China-Europe Railway Express. Yang Ming said that there were 210 China-Europe trains operated by enterprises last year, which was an increase against the trend in the same period, which provided "reassurance" for many enterprises. They also plan to further open up new trade routes and expand new trading partners this year.

The China Lanzhou Investment and Trade Fair, established in the early 1990s, initially served as an important platform for investment promotion and investment negotiation in the western region of my country. Now it has successfully held 28 sessions, and the number of co-hosting ministries and units has increased to 8. Since the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, this national brand festival has become a window and platform for multi-party cooperation to build the Belt and Road Initiative. Business opportunities, cutting-edge technologies, new energy and new materials, and water-saving agricultural technologies collide with each other here. Gathering and attending the meeting from all directions.

Malaysia has been one of the guest countries of the Lanzhou Fair. In 2022, at the China Gansu-Malaysia Industry Promotion and Economic and Trade Cooperation Matchmaking Conference, 4 companies in Gansu Province and related Malaysian companies will participate in palm oil trade, Chinese medicinal materials trade, Chinese medicine industry and Signed cooperation agreements have been reached in areas such as cultural cooperation, agricultural technology and drip irrigation equipment, with a contract value of US$172 million.

Relevant Malaysian government officials said at the signing ceremony that Malaysia is a direct beneficiary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Leichhardt from Malaysia has cooperated with Gansu Dayu Water Conservation Group Co., Ltd. for 5 years. The company representative Zhou Renjie said that in the future they plan to cooperate with Dayu Festival in the aspects of water and fertilizer integrated irrigation, intelligent automatic control, and solar energy conservation. Water has a deeper cooperation.

Dayu Water Conservation Group has accumulated rich customer resources in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, and is currently developing rapidly with great potential. Wang Chong, Secretary of the Party Committee of Gansu Dayu Water Conservation Group Co., Ltd., said that Dayu Water Conservation will formulate market development policies according to local conditions, make full use of the company's existing resources, further increase the scope of product supply, and improve product technology.

In addition, the Belt and Road cooperation also brings opportunities for high-quality development in the western region. Relying on abundant wind, light, and heat natural resources, Gansu Province has focused on cultivating and developing new energy industries in recent years. Green industries represented by new energy and new materials have become a new growth pole for Gansu Province to strengthen foreign cooperation and exchanges.

Also in the opportunity of cooperation along the Belt and Road, Lanzhou Guangtong New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. and Germany Camere Automobile Co., Ltd. signed a "12-meter pure electric bus" procurement and investment contract in 2022.

Yang Jian, chairman of Lanzhou Guangtong New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., said that Germany and even Europe have a large demand for electric buses. With policy support, after years of deployment, it has steadily entered the German new energy vehicle market, laying a solid foundation for Gansu's pure electric vehicle industry to enter overseas markets.

Since the launch of the Lanzhou Fair, 10 countries along the Belt and Road have been invited as the guest of honor, and more than 100 economic and trade cooperation and exchange activities have been held. In 2023, Gansu Province will continue to hold the 29th Lanzhou Fair, focusing on Gansu's characteristic and advantageous industries such as new energy, new materials, biomedicine, and digital information, to carry out targeted investment promotion and economic and trade cooperation, to improve the quality and level of investment cooperation, and to continuously expand Lanzhou It will serve as an important window for the country to open to the west, an important bridge to promote cooperation between the east, central and west, and an important platform for foreign investment and trade exchanges.

The trade structure is constantly optimized

In recent years, the Department of Commerce of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Customs and other departments have successively introduced a large number of policy measures to stabilize foreign trade, continuously improve the "sense of gain" of export-oriented enterprises, build a "highland" of export-oriented economic development policies, and help Gansu to deeply integrate into the construction of the Belt and Road.

Lanzhou International Port Multimodal Transport Co., Ltd. is a local foreign trade freight forwarding company in Gansu. It helps foreign trade companies handle export documents and contact transportation companies all the year round. According to Cao Zhu, the person in charge of the company, Gansu Province is located deep in the northwest inland. In the past, companies had to go to the exit port for customs declaration when exporting. It can't be done in two or three days.

Under the customs clearance integrated advance declaration mode, if the enterprise is not randomly deployed and controlled, the port will release the goods in seconds. Cao Zhu said that in July 2017, Lanzhou Customs successfully processed the first national customs clearance integrated customs declaration form. The national customs clearance policies and regulations are more consistent in terms of implementation standards. Enterprises can choose any customs area for customs declaration, which greatly simplifies customs clearance procedures.

Up to now, Gansu Provincial Department of Commerce and Lanzhou Customs have issued "Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-quality Trade Development", "Plan on Promoting Stable Growth of Foreign Trade Exports", "Twenty Measures of Lanzhou Customs to Promote Port Efficiency and Fee Reduction" and other measures , from tax rebates, reduction of financing costs, reduction of port fees and other links to help enterprises solve difficulties, so that enterprises "going out" more at ease and affordable.

According to statistics from the Foreign Economic and Economic Affairs Department of the Gansu Provincial Department of Commerce, since 2015, Gansu enterprises have invested a total of US$700 million in countries and regions along the Belt and Road such as Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Malaysia, and the multinational operation pattern of large enterprises has basically formed.

It is worth noting that the foreign investment and enthusiasm of private enterprises represented by Tianshui Huatian Technology, Lanzhou Haimo Technology, Lanzhou Guangtong New Energy, etc. have continued to increase. This has broken through the past foreign investment pattern of large state-owned enterprises in Gansu that mainly focused on mineral resources development and civil engineering, and gradually expanded to industries with higher added value such as agricultural technology, manufacturing and processing, and the industry has shown a trend of diversified development. Zhang Yanqing, a first-level chief staff member of the Foreign Economic and Economic Affairs Department of the Gansu Provincial Department of Commerce, said that this has played a positive role in upgrading the province's production capacity and technology, and cultivating export potential.

Since the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward 10 years ago, Gansu Province has maintained good economic and trade relations with traditional trading partners such as the European Union, the United States, Japan, and South Korea. At the same time, it has continued to expand emerging markets such as ASEAN, Central Asia, South Asia, and Africa. The proportion of trade volume increased from 38.5% in 2013 to 47.6% in 2022, and reached 53% in 2019.

Not only that, as the dividends of the Belt and Road Initiative continue to be released, the export structure of Gansu's foreign trade is also constantly optimized. Over the past 10 years, the leading export industries in Gansu Province have gradually transformed and upgraded to high-tech industries. In 2022, the proportion of mechanical and electrical high-tech products including graphite electrodes, integrated circuits, electronic components, etc. in Gansu Province's total foreign trade has increased from 31% at the end of 2012 to 55%, and the share of fresh apples, vegetables, seeds and other special agricultural products has increased from 8% increased to nearly 20%, and the quality, grade and added value of export products have been continuously improved.Editor/Ma Xue