Big Projects: Companies under Belt & Road Initiative expand beyond frontier

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The world's first cross-border free trade area - China-Kazakhstan Khorgos Frontier International Cooperation Center opened to business in 2012. The center sits right at the border between Kazakhstan and China, one of the most crucial passways of the Belt and Road Initiative. Our reporter Xu Xinchen reports.

Trading executive Lurri Basargin came to China two years ago. After two decades at home in Russia, Basargin wanted to try something new. He now oversees a Russian food manufacturer's operation in the Chinese border city of Khorgos, historically a major market town on the ancient Silk Road.

LURRI BASARGIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KHORGOS GOLDEN KATYUSHA INTERNATIONAL TRADING "As people's living standards continue to improve in China, they demand more quality healthy food."

The strategy for Basargin's company is making traditional Chinese dried noodles with a twist - Russian flour. Each month, 2000 tons of noodles are produced to be sold in China. And the hope is to bring in more Russian products to feed the ever-growing Chinese consumer appetite.

LURRI BASARGIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KHORGOS GOLDEN KATYUSHA INTERNATIONAL TRADING "Based on preferential policies under the Belt and Road Initiative, we are now benefiting from being in Khorgos. We plan to import Russian vegetable oil and chicken to meet consumer demand."

Golden Katyusha is making noodles in Khorgor's nearly 10-square-kilometer bonded area and enjoying lower taxes in this supporting zone for the China-Kazakhstan Khorgos Frontier International Cooperation Center.

Straddling the border, over one third of the center is in Kazakhstan and the rest in Khorgos. Entry is visa-free.

XU XINCHEN CHINA-KAZAKHSTAN FRONTIER "Hundreds of thousands of people come in every day to trade at this China-Kazakhstan Khorgos Frontier International Cooperation Center - the world's first cross-border free trade area. One second, I'm in China and the next I've stepped into its friendly neighbor country."

The Golden Eagle Central Square is one of the largest malls on the Kazakh side.

JI GANG, GENERAL MANAGER GOLDEN EAGLE CENTRAL SQUARE "Now, we have 78 tenants in our Building A and B, which opened in July 2016."

Ji Gang is the general manager for the Square. The square is the first project led by a Chinese developer on the center's Kazakh side. And the ambition goes beyond a duty-free mall.

JI GANG, GENERAL MANAGER GOLDEN EAGLE CENTRAL SQUARE "Individual traders took up the majority before 2017, but now more and more enterprises are interested in doing business via the cooperation center - those from Central Asia. We are now also playing the liaison to help these firms to find partners from China."

The center welcomed almost 6 million people in 2018, up 6.7 percent from the previous year.

While it is still more like a tourist spot attracting souvenir seekers and small traders, the vision is one of enhancing regional connectivity along the Belt and Road, a space created for trade talks and cross-border financing.

That could very well encourage more foreign firms to set up base in China via the center, and enable more Chinese companies to go overseas.

Xu Xinchen, CGTN, Khorgos, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.