Trade at Horgos slated for 14% surge

In the first quarter of this year, more than 107,400 foreigners passed China's immigration entry points at Horgos Port - roughly half of whom were Kazakhstanis. Kazakhstan, whose economic development is the strongest among the five Central Asian countries, has had close trade and economic ties with China in recent years. Bilateral trade between the two nations reached $28.6 billion in 2013.

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"Traders from both sides can purchase duty-free products up to 8,000 yuan ($1,272) per day at the center, higher than the limit of 5,000 yuan in South China's Hainan province, the country's international tourism island," said Liu.

"Central Asian countries are not the only beneficiaries of the center's favorable trade and investment policies," Liu said. "The first round of duty-free vehicle imports from Europe will arrive at the center in Horgos via rail in the second half of June."

Through Horgos, trade between China, Central Asia and Europe is thriving, with a high traffic of trucks and regular international freight trains carrying goods and commodities such as textiles, vehicle parts, pharmaceutical products, daily products, mechanical equipment and home appliances.

Liu said a 305-km highway between Horgos to Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, will be completed in 2016, and Horgos will become a major land port for grain imports.

Gan Changchun, deputy director of Xinjiang's Development and Reform Commission, said more manufacturing products such as vehicles and high-end machineries can be transported from Europe to China through highways, which should help create jobs in many surrounding towns and villages along the Silk Road economic belt.