To capitalize, nations boost infrastructure

Countries in Central Asia and East Europe are planning to build more roads, warehouses and logistics centers to cash in on the growing trade opportunities from China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Daulet Yergozhin, chairman of the State Revenue Committee under the Kazakhstan Ministry of Finance, said the country has completed a 4,800-kilometer highway in European standards earlier this year to connect China and Europe on the Silk Road Economic Belt.

"We will also build more roads to connect different nations in Central Asia, as well as build a large transshipment center at Alfynkol and an international railway station in the eastern part of the country to compete with maritime transportation between China and Europe," Yergozhin said.

Since 2010, major Chinese cities, including Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an, Zhengzhou and Wuhan, have all launched weekly or monthly modern block train services to different European and Central Asian destinations.

The containers currently have to be transferred by crane to different gauges twice. First comes a change to the Russian style broad gauge line at the Kazakhstan-China border at Alashankou, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The second is a transfer to standard gauge at the Polish-Belarusian border.

Yury Senko, chairman of the state customs committee of Belarus, said his country is also building more warehouses and transportation facilities to enhance its business ties with China and various partners on the Silk Road Economic Belt.

"As China is enhancing its contacts with various trade ministries and commerce committees to launch a number of infrastructure, manufacturing and service projects along the two trading routes, it would be practical to build a better infrastructure platform to attract foreign investment and create jobs in our country," said Senko.

China and Belarus have agreed to build a 91.5 square kilometer industrial park to develop electronics, biomedicine, chemistry and other industries near Minsk as a model for the Silk Road Economic Belt to further connect Asia with Europe.

Zhao Ying, a researcher at the Beijing-based Institute of Industrial Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said building infrastructure facilities and establishing joint free trade zones will not only increase flexibility with countries along the Belt and Road routes, but also build a better foundation for opening up the services sector and for industrial upgrade.