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Changsha county’s foreign trade along the Belt and Road routes

By Zhang Qiong (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2015-04-01

Changsha county in Central China’s Hunan province traded over $760 million with the Belt and Road area in 2014, accounting for one third of its total foreign trade volume of the year.

The Belt and Road Initiative, raised by Chinese President Xi Jinping during visits to Central Asia and Southeast Asia in 2013, refers to the visions of the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.

The Silk Road Economic Belt will be established along the ancient Silk Road trade route, stretching northwest from China’s coastal area through Central Asia on to Europe, while the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road will run from southern China to Southeast Asia and Africa.

The concepts are old news to people in Changsha county, one of the top ten counties by economic strength, administered by the Hunan provincial capital Changsha.

“In 2012, our main foreign market was still in Africa. We shifted our business focus to Central and West Asia after the nation’s initiative to rebuild the Silk Road,” said Pan Yong, head of the foreign trade department of Hunan Xiangfeng Tea Industry Co.

Tea has been loved by nomadic people since ancient times. Pan said that Changsha tea is very popular along the ancient Silk Road trade route. Xiangfeng Tea traded $4 million of tea along the Belt and Road routes last year, making up 30 percent of its total trade volume.

In 2014, Changsha county added three new trade partners, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Maldives, thus establishing trade contacts with 17 representative countries along the Belt and Road routes. Of the $760 million trade volume in the area, exports accounted for $290 million, including tea, machinery, automobiles and auto parts.

Changsha county’s foreign trade along the Belt and Road routes

The foreign trade routes of Changsha county in Central China’s Hunan province. [Photo/rednet.cn]

Construction along the Belt and Road area depends on multiple areas, including infrastructure, energy and resource cooperation, investment in industrial parks, and building free trade zones.

Last year, foreign trade enterprises in Changsha county, including the Sany Heavy Industry, Sunward Intelligent, and Hunan China Sun Pharmaceutical Machinery, invested a total of $340 million yuan along the Belt and Road area.

The vision of the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, once completed, will directly benefit 4.4 billion people, or 63 percent of the global population. So far, more than 60 countries and international organizations have shown interest in the two initiatives.

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