The State Council, China's cabinet, has approved the establishment of a key pilot zone to advance opening-up and development in Tacheng Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

According to a 2015 guideline issued by the State Council, central authorities will offer soft loans to infrastructure projects in such pilot zones located in border regions.

With the establishment of the pilot zone, Tacheng will accelerate the construction of infrastructure projects and cross-border industrial parks as well as the development of the finance sector, said Chang Cheng, a policy research official in Tacheng.

"Tacheng is an important land route for China's foreign trade with Central Asia and Europe," Chang said, adding that the prefecture's favorable trade conditions make it economically complementary to bordering Kazakhstan.

With a total population of 910,800, Tacheng covers 105,400 square km.

In 2019, its GDP reached 69.7 billion yuan (about 10.7 billion U.S. dollars), up 5.2 percent year on year.