Guangxi hastens projects for One Belt, One Road

NANNING CITY – Construction and manufacturing equipment whir non-stop in Guangxi, China as the autonomous region speeds up projects in line with the implementation of the One Belt, One Road.

OBOR is an initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping aimed at building massive infrastructure - the land-based economic belt and the 21st century maritime Silk Road - that will connect China to the Eurasian region and increase global trade exchange, economic cooperation and cultural ties.

A majority of Guangxi’s initiatives for OBOR are located in this capital city, being an important junction of the Silk Road and a gateway of cooperation between China and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

At present, Nanning has developed into a transfer station and production base for the ASEAN import and export sector.

The Nanning-Zhonguancun Double Demonstration Base, launched in July this year, created an innovation ecosystem that is powered by information technology and advanced industrial equipment.

Twelve leading enterprises, including Google, iResearch Capital and HIT Robot Group, are among the first investors at the innovation base.

Investors enjoy tax exemptions and free lease for the first six months of operation.

The Nanning Creative Industries (NCI) and the Nanning New and High-tech Industrial Development Zone (NNHITECH) are open not only to China’s aspiring entrepreneurs, but also to innovators from ASEAN member-states.

Among the innovations featured at the NNHITECH are robots that can be used in crime investigation, defuse bomb and fight fire; an irrigation system that mixes water and fertilizer and an unmanned aerial vehicle.

 “The NCI serves as incubation center for young talents and entrepreneurs who aspire to become celebrities, film producers, software developers and full-fledged businessmen,” Liang Yan, deputy chief executive officer of NCI innovation division, told journalists who visited the center recently.

Yan said the NCI provides technical, financial and professional support to applicants whose business proposals are accepted to the innovation center.

Since its inception last year, the center received at least 150 applications, but only 30 qualified as “incubatees.”

Nanning Mayor Zhou Hongbo said they are accelerating the construction of an international transportation hub that would link the city to Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Dubbed China’s green city, Nanning is home to Guangxi Yuanzheng Green Automobile Co., manufacturer of buses that can run both on gas and electricity, and the CRRC Railway Transportation Equipment Co., maker of high-speed railway trains.

Guangxi, an autonomous region in the southern part of China, leads the development of the Silk Road in the southwestern zone. The others are Xinjiang  in the northwest, Inner Mongolia in the northeast and Fujian on the coastal zone.

By 2020, the region is expected to have more shipping lines, ports and air routes toward ASEAN member-states.