The Belt and Road has linked Xinjiang with Central Asia and promoted the high-quality development of Xinjiang. Let's take a look.
Irkeshtan Port, China’s westernmost port located in Wuqia County, Xinjiang, is becoming busier than ever with the deepening of the Belt and Road Initiative.
The Irkeshtan port, surrounded by mountains, is only 200 kilometers away from Osh City, Kyrgyzstan, and can reach the westward key logistics hubs of the Belt and Road, such as Andijan, Uzbekistan, making it an important channel for road and railway transportation between China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
The Irkeshtan Port has witnessed an increasing number of inbound and outbound cargo logistics, with an average of around 450 vehicles passing through customs every day.
“The great changes at the Irkestan Port has increased our job opportunities. In the past, I used to travel back and forth between China and Kyrgyzstan once a month, but now the two countries have close economic and trade exchanges. Currently, I travel back and forth at least three times a month,” said Andrew, a Kyrgyz truck driver.
Irkeshtan Port exports clothing, shoes and hats, daily necessities, automobiles and accessories, household appliances, and imports dried fruits, minerals, and coal.
The Irkestan Port has continuously improved its infrastructure construction and optimized the customs clearance processes to further improve the efficiency of truck traffic. From January to October, the Irkeshtan port recorded a record high of 1 million tons of goods cleared through customs.
“We have transformed the original manual inspection into machine scanning inspection, greatly improving our ability to safeguard national security and optimizing our customs clearance process,” said Ainivarjiang Nur, Chief of the Inspection Section II of Irkestan Customs.
Jiangsu has continuously invested industry guidance funds to support the construction of the Irkeshtan Port Industrial Park.
“We coordinated and facilitated the SCO Lianyungang International Logistics Park to reach a cooperation agreement with the Irkeshtan Port, and opened the international freight train of road rail intermodal transport, helping Jiangsu products to reach the market of Central Asian countries through the Irkeshtan Port, introducing the products of "the Belt and Road" countries to Changzhou through the Irkeshtan Port, and exploring a new path for industrial assistance to Xinjiang,” said Zhu Yankun, Deputy Director of Irkeshtan Port Administration, Jiangsu official for pairing-up aid in Xinjiang.
