He Jian: Xinjiang Province is becoming the forefront of opening up

ThenumberoftheChina-EuropeRailwayExpresspassingthroughXinjiang'stwoportshasexceeded8,000thisyear,,thenumberoftheChina-EuropeRailwayExpresspassingthroughtheAlatawPassreached3,698,%comparedtothepreviousyear;whilethetrainsgoingthroughtheHorgosPassreached4,311,%comparedtothepreviousyear.

AccordingtoHeJian,DeanoftheInstituteofStatisticsandDataScienceandtheDeputyDeanoftheInstituteofSilkRoadEconomyandManagementofXinjiangUniversityofFinanceEconomics,"Thisyearmarksthe10thanniversaryoftheBeltandRoadInitiative,andtheChina-EuropeRailwayExpressisitslandmarkachievement."What'smore,themostimportantsignificanceoftheChina-EuropeRailwayExpresall-weatherwithhighcapacityasasignifican'sadvantagesareobvious,suchaslowertransportationcostscomparedtoairtransportation,shortertransportationtimecomparedtoseatransportation,andlowercarbonemissions.

"sforabout10%ofthetotalChina-Europetrade,anditstillhasmuchroomtogrow."Headdedthatinthefirsthalfofthisyear,whenglobaltradewasunderpressure,thetotalvalueofXinjiang',reachingarecordhighinthesameperiod."ThisfigureisclosetothetotalvalueofXinjiang'sforeigntradeimportsandexportsin2021,andwecanseethatXinjiang'spotentialinforeigntradedevelopmentishuge."

"TradebetweenXinjiangandthefivecountriesofCentralAsiaisdoingverywellnow."HeJiansaidthatCentralAsiaisthecoreareaoftheShanghaiCooperati'sde,theconstructionoftheChina-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistanrailwayisaccelerating,whichshortensthefreighttransportationbyabout900kilometersandaboutaweekcomparedwiththecurrentrouteoftheChina-EuropeRailwayExpress.

"Xinjiangmustuseitsgeographicaladvantages,activelyintegrateintothecountry'soveralllayoutofopeninguptothewest,andcontinuetostrengthenpeople-to-peopleconnectionsbesides'goodsconnection',"HeJiansaidthathigh-levelopeningupistheonlywayforXinjiang',XinjianghasalsobuiltabridgebetweenChinaandthecountriesalongtheChina-EuropeRailwayExpressforculturalexchangesandpeople-to-peopleconnections.

新疆财经大学丝路经济与管理研究院副院长何剑：新疆阔步迈向对外开放前沿

一列列满载货物的班列从霍尔果斯站、阿拉山口站驶出，今年新疆铁路双口岸通行中欧（中亚）班列数量已超过8000列。其中，阿拉山口铁路口岸进出境中欧（中亚）班列达3698列，同比增长10.8%；霍尔果斯铁路口岸进出境中欧（中亚）班列达4311列，同比增长15.8%。

“今年是共建‘一带一路’倡议提出10周年，中欧班列是共建‘一带一路’的标志性成果。”新疆财经大学统计与数据科学学院院长、丝路经济与管理研究院副院长何剑表示，中欧班列最重要的意义在于构建了一条联通欧亚的陆路运输新通道，这条通道有着全天候、大运量、绿色低碳的优势，对整个国际运输服务体系都是一个重大创新。何剑指出，铁路运输正在显示它的优势，像运输费用相对空运较低、运输时间相对海运较短、碳排放量比较低等。

“中欧班列沿线国家的消费市场很大，像中欧班列运载货值占中欧贸易总额的10%左右，它的发展空间还很大。”何剑举例称，在全球贸易承压的今年上半年，新疆外贸进出口总值达到1496.2亿元，进出口规模创历史同期新高，“这个数字接近2021年新疆全年外贸进出口总值，可以看出新疆今后的外贸发展潜力非常大”。

“新疆和中亚5国的贸易现在做得非常好。”何剑表示，中亚是上合组织的核心区，新疆是丝绸之路经济带的核心区，从今明两年甚至以后更长时间来看，新疆的发展形势越来越好，尤其是中吉乌铁路建设正加速推进，它比中欧班列目前的路线缩短了货物运输里程约900公里，运输时间也要缩短一星期左右。

文丨羊城晚报全媒体记者许张超

翻译丨白心怡

责编丨古司祺

校对丨赵丹丹