Northwest China's Shaanxi province will promote the construction of the Belt and Road and build itself into an international trade channel with high efficiency, low cost and excellent services by 2025, according to the province’s plans for the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

Xi'an, the provincial capital, will be built into an international commercial and logistics hub and an operation and organization center for a major international land-sea trade channel.

By 2025, the Xi'an Xianyang International Airport should have 70 international and regional navigable cities with an annual passenger throughput of 67 million passengers, and an annual cargo and mail throughput of 800,000 metric tons.

Workers load cargo onto a plane at the Xi'an Xianyang International Airport. [Photo by li Ming/Xi'an news network]

Over the five years, Shaanxi's average annual growth of foreign trade should be 15 percent, with the actual utilization of foreign capital increasing by 13 percent annually.

An innovative development system with the characteristics and advantages of Shaanxi will be built. By 2025, there should be 10,000 high-tech enterprises in the province, and the proportion of foreign high-end talents and professionals working in Shaanxi should be 0.4 per thousand people.

The China-Europe Chang'an freight train has become an important international trade channel. [Photo by Wang Jian/Xi'an news network]

Shaanxi will promote the high-quality development of the China-Europe Chang'an freight train, and by 2025, its container throughput should reach about 500,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, freight volume should reach about 4 million tons, and 10 overseas warehouses will be built and put into use.

The Xi'an International Trade and Logistics Park will explore international multimodal logistics transportation rules led by railway transportation, focusing on the development of international trade, modern logistics, financial services, tourism, exhibitions and e-commerce.

In addition, the province will help Xi'an create a comprehensive national science center and build a number of engineering research centers, key laboratories, and enterprise technology centers to solve core technology bottlenecks.

The Yinchuan-Xi'an High-speed Railway opens on Dec 26, 2020. [Photo by Tang Zhenjiang/Xi'an news network]