New progress has been made in building the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt.First, the synergy of policies has been strengthened.  We strengthened cooperation among provinces and regions, and made concerted efforts to open up to the west. We signed strategic framework cooperation agreements with Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Tibet to deepen cooperation in transportation, logistics, energy, industry, commerce, science, education, culture and health. Second, infrastructure connectivity has been continuously improved. We vigorously promoted the development of a five-in-one connectivity network of railways, highways, aviation, communications and pipelines, opened 118 bilateral international roads, and made 7,160 transit trains between China and Central Asia in the first half of this year, up 13.7 percent year on year, with shipments of 12.301 million tons, up 24 percent year on year. Twenty-five civil airports have been built, and remarkable progress has been made in opening up major passageways to the outside world. Third, economic and trade cooperation has been expanding. Economic and trade cooperation has been established with 190 countries and regions, and a number of local enterprises have gone out to participate in the construction of the Belt and Road.

From January to May, the total value of Xinjiang's foreign trade was 125.06 billion yuan, up 85.9% year on year. Among them, the import and export of countries along the Belt and Road was 115.42 billion yuan, an increase of 89.3%. Fourth, people-to-people exchanges continued to deepen. A total of 12,000 students from 95 countries have been trained, and scientific and technological cooperation covers 45 countries and regions. Fifth, the development of open platforms has improved quality and efficiency. The development and reform of the Kashgar and Khorgos Economic Development Zones have entered a fast track, major economic indicators have grown rapidly, and the northern and southern fulcrums of the core areas have continued to strengthen. Construction of key development and opening up pilot zones in Tacheng was accelerated, and industrial projects such as Sany wind power and the Fourth Bureau of Hydropower were completed and put into operation. The customs clearance facilitation and efficiency of the 20 ports continued to improve, and the construction of port economic belt made steady progress. Editor/Xu Shengpeng