Belt and Road Initiative boosts business exchanges in east China city

Reuters - The Belt and Road Initiative has boosted business exchanges in Yiwu City, east China's Zhejiang Province, and brought mutual benefit through win-win cooperation between China and many other countries and regions. The Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe route of the China Railway Express to Europe has so far launched nine international routes, enabling trade between China and 35 countries and regions since 2014. At the railway port of Yiwu Customs, containers carrying cargo were sealed to be sent to countries along the Belt and Road by the freight trains. "Each lock is unique and only matches one container in order to ensure safety on the way. The business has really increased a lot. There were fewer than 30 trains in 2014, but in 2017, there were over 160 trains. And between January and June this year, there have been more 130 trains adding to the list," said Ye Zhengyang, a staff member at Yiwu Customs. Shang Chunyan, another staff member, added that there have been regular round-trip trains running on the Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe route. In China's Import Commodity Mall in Yiwu, there are nearly 90,000 kinds of foreign goods from over 100 countries and regions, a third of which are from the Belt and Road countries. "The Belt and Road Initiative has helped bring in many good commodities from overseas countries, which has benefited the Chinese people. It feels like a trip aboard while actually, we are still at home," said a shopper at the Import Commodity Mall. The Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe route has witnessed a total trade volume of 3.62 billion yuan (around 528.22 million U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year, with the import volume up 73.9 percent year on year and the export volume increasing by 110 percent year on year. With the increase in exports, the traditional market has also boomed with creativity, such as a local umbrella business. "The clients would tell us what they need and we would then do the research and design, which also helps us update our products more quickly. We could only produce 5,000 umbrellas every day two to three years ago. Today, we have doubled that number, which is 10,000 umbrellas each day," said Zhang Jiayuan, a business owner in Yiwu. Foreigners have also become a part of the city population, opening almost the same number of restaurants as the local people. A businessman from Jordan named Muhammad has been selling Arabic foods for about four years in Yiwu. In his new restaurant, he specially decorated the walls with Belt and Road-themed designs. "I put this up to let more people know about the Belt and Road Initiative because most people don't know much about it and think that it is just about trains. But the Belt and Road Initiative is not just about trains. It is about the integration and development of many countries like brothers," said the Jordan businessman. Muhammad said he owes his restaurant business to the Belt and Road Initiative. "It [the Belt and Road Initiative] has greatly helped our business. We have more customers now and many of them are people who came to Yiwu for business. This restaurant does not belong to me alone; I opened it with my brother. We're just like the Belt and Road countries - we grow together," said the businessman. Yiwu currently has nearly half a million overseas buyers every year and over 13,000 regular foreign businesses from more than 100 countries and regions. There are also more than 5,300 foreign-related agencies of various kinds, exporting goods to over 210 countries and regions.