With the deep implementation of the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative, the Chinese western regions have started to attract more capital.
In this backdrop, the first World Xi'an Entrepreneurs Convention was held in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, from August 19 to August 20. More than a thousand foreign and domestic representatives from 24 different destinations attended the convention. They came from various sectors, including logistics, financial investment, aviation and aerospace, equipment manufacturing and e-commerce.
China's e-commerce giant Alibaba will set up a northwest headquarters in Xi'an, announced Jack Ma, Alibaba's chairman, during the convention. Besides, Alibaba will build a Big Data Academy with Xi'an Jiaotong University to cultivate high-end talents for the B&R.
Jack Ma said that Xi'an has witnessed rapid growth in recent years. As the starting point of the ancient Silk Road and one of the key cities of the national strategy of developing China's western regions, Xi'an boasts great development potential. It is exciting for Alibaba to participate in the city's development.
The western cities are becoming increasingly attractive for many enterprises. Zeng Zhaoning, a professor from Xi'an Shiyou University, said that the B&R Initiative is propelling the inland cities to adopt a more "aggressive" opening-up stance. "In the past, the western cities of China have been geographically challenged compared with the eastern ones. However, their latent potential has been brought to the fore as they continue to carry out infrastructure construction and make efforts to optimize business environment," noted Zeng.
Some logistics companies have also discovered the potential of western cities. Guan Mengding, vice president of AWOT Group, said that we have branches across all the coastal cities of China. Through taking part in the convention, I have discovered the great potential of the western cities in international logistics. Our next step is to focus on the western cities like Xi'an and Yinchuan to expand our international logistics business.
At the conference, STO Express, one of the leading logistics enterprises in China, announced an investment of 1.5 billion yuan in building a Northwestern Transfer Center in Xi'an. Chen Dejun, chairman of the STO Express, noted that in terms of regional position, transferring the investment from the southeastern coastal areas to the west is a strategic move. The infrastructure in western regions is improving. At the same time, the investment costs are lower.
Except for infrastructure construction, land, air and maritime logistical capacities of the western cities are greatly improving. In addition, comprehensive bonded zones and free trade areas have been set up, which will facilitate the companies in expanding their international trade businesses in the inland cities.
Foreign enterprises are also interested in the business opportunities in the western cities of China.
Yu Xinqi, president of Thailand's Shaanxi Chamber of Commerce, said that with the implementation of China's B&R Initiative, Thai people are enthusiastic about investing in western China. "Every year, I usually organize three to four investment tours to Xi'an, with dozens of companies and investors each time. There are more Thai companies hoping to join the tour and explore investment opportunities in Xi'an," he said.