Open new highland

In the wave of the times when the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative is deepened, Lanzhou New District has kept in mind the strategic mission of "an important strategic platform for opening up to the west" and outlined a magnificent picture of the interweaving of opening up and reform, and innovation and industry dancing together in the northwest inland.

After 13 years of construction and development, this young national-level new district is now accelerating the construction of a new highland inland opening up with the three-dimensional layout of "channel platform trade industry" - from the completion of the main body of the third phase expansion project of Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport to the normal operation of the new railway trains in the Central Europe, Central Asia and the Western Land-Sea Corridor; from the vigorous development of diversified business formats such as grain and oil processing in the comprehensive bonded zone, cross-border e-commerce, to the "new district intelligent manufacturing" such as petroleum and petrochemical equipment and new energy vehicles to the world... Lanzhou New District is building a new highland inland opening up to the west and stimulating new momentum for high-quality development.

The international freight route "Lanzhou to Moscow" is launched. Except for the signature, this group of pictures is taken by reporter Huo Hongyu of Lanzhou New District Daily.

Build an open platform

Cultivate new advantages in open development

In the early morning of June 27, an all-cargo aircraft carrying 27 tons of cargo took off from Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport and flew directly to Moscow, the capital of Russia, marking the successful departure of the internationally scheduled all-cargo aircraft route from Lanzhou to Moscow. This "Air Silk Road" spanning more than 5,000 kilometers is another new breakthrough in Lanzhou New District's active integration into the construction of the "Belt and Road", deepening institutional innovation, and improving the level of regional opening up.

Since the beginning of this year, Lanzhou New District has taken the official opening of the third phase of Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport as an opportunity to give full play to its location advantages and channel advantages, seize major opportunities such as the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" and the construction of the Western Land-Sea New Channel, give full play to its radiation and driving role, and strive to build a Western aviation hub.

In terms of aviation logistics, Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport Third Freight Zone has built 23,500 square meters of domestic freight stations, 17,000 square meters of international freight stations, and 5,867 square meters of comprehensive building. With the official launch of the new cargo station information management system in cooperation with Spring Airlines, Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport's aviation logistics business has entered a new stage, achieving electronic waybill guarantee for the entire process of Spring Airlines cargo for the first time, and simultaneously implementing informatization in the cargo collection and delivery and pre-allocation links, greatly improving logistics efficiency and ensuring efficient delivery of air cargo.

On March 17, the Lanzhou-Tashkent all-cargo plane route resumed operation. It has effectively promoted the further improvement of the energy level of Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport Port, promoted the deep connection between airports and logistics methods such as China-Europe freight trains and TIR international road transportation, and built an efficient and coordinated multimodal transport system of "air, railway and road", effectively reduced corporate logistics costs and promoted industrial upgrading. By focusing on building a route network from Lanzhou to Central and Western Asia, an efficient air economic channel will be built for the development of characteristic industries, helping characteristic industries to "fly" into a broader market and enhancing industrial competitiveness.

As an important platform for "opening Gansu", Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport has continuously improved the accessibility of the international air cargo network with the new mechanism of "international air-to-air transport and cross-border transit of international cargo", providing logistics guarantees for key industries such as cross-border e-commerce, fresh cold chain, and high-end manufacturing, attracting more and more people, logistics and information flows to gather here. Imported red wine, fruits, exported electronic products, handicrafts, etc. have been conveniently collected at Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport, and has also built an air economic channel for "two-way" for "sweet" products such as flowers.

At the same time, Lanzhou New District actively grasps the strategic opportunity of the "Belt and Road" opening up to the west, gives full play to the advantages of the linkage between comprehensive bonded zones, international airports, and international land ports, build a modern and efficient operation system, and actively expand the domestic and international markets.

In May this year, the entire imported pea Central Asia train arrived at Zhongchuan North Station in Lanzhou New District. The train was loaded with 61 containers and 1,609 tons of peas. It departed from Kazakhstan and passed through the Horgos Port in Xinjiang, and successfully arrived at the designated supervision site for imported grain in Zhongchuan North Station in Lanzhou New District through the "rail rapid customs clearance" model. The arrival of the train marks a new step in the operation of the "rail rapid customs clearance" model for entering and leaving the railway port in Lanzhou New District.

On July 21, 261 commercial vehicles entered the Lanzhou New District Comprehensive Bonded Zone. This batch of vehicles with a cargo value of about 20 million yuan arrived in Kazakhstan in the "bonded logistics international train" model, marking the official launch of the first "bonded logistics international train" in Gansu Province. This model not only provides a logistics platform for bonded warehousing and rapid customs clearance for enterprises in the comprehensive bonded zone, but also allows export enterprises outside the district to enjoy the export tax rebate policy in advance, opening up a new path for building a logistics hub in Lanzhou New District and promoting the construction of an international cargo multimodal transport assembly center.

Nowadays, the energy level of the open platform in Lanzhou New District is constantly improving, and international channels continue to be broadened. It has built a three-dimensional open platform with "one zone, two ports, six designated supervision sites, and two cross-border e-commerce supervision centers". It has also been approved to establish national-level opening pilot projects such as import trade promotion innovation demonstration zone, key land for processing trade gradient transfer, foreign trade transformation and upgrading base (petroleum equipment), as well as provincial foreign trade transformation and upgrading base (specialized chemical industry), and has become the most concentrated area with the province's opening-up platform and the most powerful policy functions.

At the same time, a total of 21 international cargo waypoints have been opened at the Lanzhou New District Air Port. Several "multimodal transport" routes have been opened at the railway ports, and international freight trains in the Central Europe, Central Asia and the Western Land-Sea New Channel have been operated regularly, reaching more than 20 countries and regions including Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran, India, etc.

In the logistics park of Zhongchuan North Station, a crane loads the container onto the train. Photo by Luo Jinye, a reporter from Lanzhou New District Daily

Deepen international cooperation

"Intelligent Manufacturing in New Area" exports performed well

On July 22, the drilling rigs and supporting equipment developed by Lanshi Equipment Company completed all production and commissioning tasks, and all performance indicators met customer requirements and were quickly sent to Central Asia customers.

Relying on Lanshi Equipment's deep technical accumulation in the field of ultra-deep well drilling rig development, this equipment focuses on strengthening the ultra-deep operation capability, extreme environmental adaptability, intelligence and safety, and efficient relocation capabilities of the drilling rig, achieving a synchronous jump in continuous operation reliability, complex formation adaptability, and emergency response speed, which can meet customers' deep oil and gas exploration needs over 10,000 meters in extreme environments such as high temperature (50℃), strong wind and sand.

The good news doesn't stop there. Not long after, Saudi AHG company formed a group to fly to Lanzhou New District and signed a strategic cooperation agreement and an intent procurement agreement with Lanshi Group, elevating the cooperation between the two parties in products and services to strategic cooperation.

Previously, in April and May this year, AHG Company signed a contract with Lanshi Group for 70MPa skid-mounted hydrogen refueling station project and 10Nm3/h PEM electrolytic water hydrogen production equipment project, fully recognizing Lanshi Group's products and services.

Since the beginning of this year, Lanshi Group has relied on the superior business environment and good location advantages of Lanzhou New District to seize the opportunity of jointly building the "Belt and Road", actively integrate into the new pattern of international market development, and fully promote the construction of overseas energy projects such as the Middle East and Russia. The desert oil drilling rigs, offshore oil module drilling rigs, oil pumps, pressure vessels, reactors, fast forging presses, etc. produced are exported to countries and regions such as Russia, Algeria, South Africa, Singapore, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

In the first half of the year, Lanshi Group achieved new orders of 5.6 billion yuan, and equipment manufacturing product orders of 4.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20%; export delivery value exceeded 600 million yuan, achieving a significant increase.

As Lanshi Group's overseas business is booming, another old mechanical and electrical company located in Lanzhou New District is also constantly expanding its international "circle of friends" and actively expanding its international export market.

According to Pei Haiying, deputy general manager of Landian Co., Ltd., at the beginning of this year, Landian Co., Ltd. carefully compiled ideas and plans to build an "integrated" overseas market development, accurately and efficiently opened up the international market, and the wave of international customer inspections was surging. In the first half of this year alone, four Russian merchants, including PTO MOLOT, and more than 10 important international customers including Siemens visited LanDian Co., Ltd. and reached preliminary cooperation intentions.

Pei Haiying said that Landian Co., Ltd. has deeply integrated into the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" and the construction of the new western land-sea channel, and has made every effort to build a three-dimensional market pattern of "international, domestic, online and offline, internal and external linkage", continuously overcome key technical barriers, enhance the core competitiveness of products, carry high-quality products and services with a new trend, actively integrate into the new international market pattern, and fully promote new breakthroughs in projects in Eurasia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East markets, and create a new situation for overseas market expansion.

In the first half of this year, Landian Co., Ltd. achieved an export volume of 36.22 million yuan, accounting for 97% of the total export volume in 2024, and its international market influence continued to expand.

From Lanshi Group to Landian Co., Ltd., the dazzling export data reflects the surging development momentum stimulated by the Lanzhou New District relying on the "important strategic platform for opening up to the west" to build a new highland of inland opening up.

Terminal 3 of Zhongchuan International Airport. Photo by Cui Shengzheng, a reporter from Lanzhou New District Daily

Optimize environmental activation

Promote the acceleration of the development of an open economy

"In the stage of enterprise registration and filing, the Lanzhou New District Comprehensive Bonded Zone Management Committee arranged a dedicated person to provide full service. Now there is a "heartwarming" policy to come to my door, which makes me full of confidence in future development." said the head of the Gansu Branch of Australian Agricultural Group.

Recently, the Lanzhou New District Comprehensive Bonded Zone Management Committee has launched a special action for coordinated industrial development. It has visited 69 new energy and new materials, chemicals, grain, oil, food, machinery and electronics and other enterprises to understand the production and operation status of enterprises, preach relevant foreign trade policies, help enterprises analyze executable and enjoyable policy paths, and establish a good communication mechanism with enterprises.

Gansu Branch of Australia Agricultural Group is a foreign-funded enterprise newly unveiled in the Lanzhou New District Comprehensive Bonded Zone on June 11 this year. In order to support and promote enterprises to carry out business as soon as possible and help Gansu's characteristic agricultural products go overseas, staff from the Lanzhou New District Comprehensive Bonded Zone Management Committee came to explain preferential policies in international transportation, domestic goods collection and other aspects. The head of the company said, "This policy interpretation is like a 'timely rain', which has helped us fill many policy blind spots. We will accelerate the selection, procurement and packaging of specialty agricultural products and carry out business in an all-round way as soon as possible."

Since the beginning of this year, the Lanzhou New District Comprehensive Bonded Zone Management Committee has focused on the needs of enterprises and guided enterprises to make full use of policy dividends through policy interpretation and business training, accurately helped enterprises to clear up various bottlenecks and difficulties, continuously optimize the business environment, and improve the service level of foreign-invested enterprises. Lanzhou New District protects the legitimate rights and interests of foreign-funded enterprises in accordance with the law in key areas such as factor acquisition, government procurement, qualification licensing, and standard formulation, and accelerates the improvement of investment facilitation and trade liberalization levels, and continues to polish the golden signboard of the "Investment Attractive New District".

According to Wang Yanshan, director of the Management Committee of the Lanzhou New District Comprehensive Bonded Zone, the New District Comprehensive Bonded Zone actively promotes enterprises to integrate into the construction of the "Belt and Road" and supports Guangtong New Energy to sign 100 new bus orders with Uzbekistan, helping Lanshi Group further expand overseas markets such as Germany, the United States, Russia and the Middle East. The cumulative export orders increased by nearly 30% year-on-year, driving the steady growth of the export scale of mechanical and electronic products.

Data shows that in the first half of the year, the import and export volume of mechanical and electronic products in the Comprehensive Bonded Zone of Lanzhou New District reached 683 million yuan, accounting for 19% of the total import and export trade, and the year-on-year growth rate reached 27%, achieving a double improvement in the volume and quality of mechanical and electronic foreign trade business. Promoting the improvement of quality and efficiency of foreign investment and stabilizing the basic foreign investment is of great significance to the stability and development of the local economy.

As a new highland for the open economy in the northwest of the inland, Lanzhou New District has taken the construction of the "Belt and Road" as an opportunity to successfully build a multi-dimensional open platform system of "comprehensive bonded zone international airport railway port". By innovating the "zone-port linkage" model, cultivating new business forms such as cross-border e-commerce, and deepening international production capacity cooperation, it has formed a healthy development pattern of "channels to logistics, logistics promote economic and trade, and economic and trade develop industries". The former inland hinterland has transformed into a strategic fulcrum for opening up to the west. In the future, Lanzhou New District will continue to amplify the location advantages of the "Six Links in the Sea", strengthen the function of the logistics hub, and promote the formation of a new pattern of comprehensive opening up in a deeper and wider field.