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Work underway to build up economic, cultural relations, Li Fusheng reports.

Local authorities in Central China's Hubei province are promoting the Road and Belt Initiative in the hope of building closer economic and cultural relations with other countries.

On Monday, the Hubei government and authorities of another five provinces in the region held a themed seminar that was expected to be a highlight of the Expo Central China.

According to organizers, the seminar, titled International Forum on the Cooperation of the Six Provinces in Central China on the Road and Belt Initiative expected to attract more than 400 overseas participants. Tanzanian Vice-President Mohammed Gharib Bilal, former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin and former Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsny were among expected guests.

Participants showed confidence in the business potential of Central China. The region, which is rich in minerals and other resources, saw its GDP reach 13.8 trillion yuan ($2.22 trillion) in 2014, about one fifth of the country's total.

Many countries along the ancient Silk Road including Kazakhstan, Turkey and Hungary expressed interest when Hubei's Party chief Li Hongzhong and the province's Governor Wang Guosheng urged them to seek business opportunities and strengthen cultural exchanges in 2014.

President Xi Jinping put forward the concept of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in 2013.

The Silk Road Economic Belt is to be established along the ancient Silk Road trade route that stretched northwest from China's coastal area through Central Asia, the Middle East and on to Europe. The Maritime Silk Road will run through the country's southern part to Southeast Asia.

Businesses, both in China and overseas, are already said to be benefiting from the Road and Belt Initiative.

A cargo train running from Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus to the Czech Republic, started regular operations in April 2014. Since then, Wuhan-based Huakun Industry and Commerce has exported 30,000 metric tons of zinc-coated plates to Kazakhstan and imported 50,000 tons of fine copper from the country.

Qixing, an auto parts producer in Suizhou, Hubei province, has sold 80 million euros ($91.18 million) worth of spare parts to Iran, and cut their delivery time by 40 percent since shifting to the new cargo train rather than road transport. A Belarusian winemaker made a foray into the Central China market after realizing the new transport route means it takes less than 15 days for its vodkas and wines to reach supermarkets in Wuhan.

China Southern Airlines introduced a direct flight from Wuhan and Moscow in July 2014, cutting travel time between the two cities to nine hours.

Passengers can board at Wuhan at 3 pm and arrive at Sheremetyevo Ariport at about 8:15 pm local time, ready to enjoy an evening in Moscow.

Traveling between Wuhan and Moscow used to involve a transfer in Beijing, Shanghai or Urumqi and the journey would take at least 14 hours, according to local transport officials.

Statistics show that there are now direct flights between Wuhan to up to 34 overseas cities along the Silk Road.

Also in 2014, a trial route connecting Wuhan, Shanghai, Thailand's Bangkok and Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City went into service.

Easier transport has fueled Hubei's international trade. The province's trade officials said its bilateral trade with 32 countries along the Maritime Silk Road surged 30.8 percent in the first quarter of 2015 from the same period last year. They said its trade with 47 countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt rose 19.1 percent year-on-year. The trade boom has benefited Hubei businesses but also helped improve local social and economic growth. Angel Yeast, a company in Yichang city, entered Kazakhstan's market in the 1990s.

In 2014, it sold 140 tons of yeast and other food products to the country, promoting the local food industry.

Huaxin Cement runs three production lines in Tajikistan, with a combined annual output of 3.5 million tons, which helps end the central Asian country's history of relying on imported cement.

In Pakistan, several buildings including the Centaurus Hotel Islamabad and the modern software park were built by Hubei-headquartered China Construction Third Engineering Group.

Hubei scientists set up a Friendship Farm in Mozambique in 2007 and the farm's hybrid rice produces yield double that of the local level.

The hybrid rice has been promoted in the country and is playing a large part in ensuring local food security.

Based on the success so far, the Hubei government is working on a plan to create more opportunities for development.

Local authorities are encouraging Hubei companies to consolidate their presence in traditional markets like Southeast Asia, South Africa and Russia and expand their business in new markets such as Central Asia, North Africa and Eastern Europe in sectors including agriculture, infrastructure, cars, minerals and optoelectronics.

They are also stimulating cooperation with countries that have strengths in software, information technology, finance, traditional Chinese medicine, food processing and education.

The government has also called for outbound investment to sectors such as agriculture in Russia as well as countries in Central Asia and North Africa.

In addition, the province is planning to carry out more cultural and academic exchanges with those countries and regions. Hubei has 82 sister cities, counties or provinces in 34 countries across the world.

In the past two years, it has received 20,000 official visits from politicians, businessmen and dignitaries. Statistics show that some 60,000 overseas nationals, mainly experts, engineers and scholars, live in Hubei province.

The government plans to attract more professionals and overseas students to Hubei by offering job opportunities and scholarships.

During the past five years, colleges in Hubei have undertaken 135 programs with 74 overseas counterparts and some 50 Nobel Prize winners have lectured in the province.

More than 16,000 overseas students are studying in Hubei, double the figure from five years ago.

More and more Hubei locals are going overseas. The province has set up 19 Confucius Institutes overseas. By the end of 2014, the provincial government had sent about 1,000 Chinese teachers and volunteers to teach Chinese in Thailand, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.

Volunteers in the province have helped train 2,000 Chinese teachers in Malaysia and Spain. The province has also sent about 1,500 agricultural technicians to 12 countries and regions, 24 medical teams to Algeria and other African countries and trained more than 1,200 technicians and managers in about 80 developing countries.

Contact the writer at lifusheng@chinadaily.com.cn

Officials from Russia and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River area hold the first cooperation forum at the East Lake International Conference Center in Wuhan.

Air France celebrates its first flight from Wuhan to Paris in 2012.

An old photograph shows tea boats from around the world gather at Hankou, the key port in Hubei province. The flight route from Wuhan to Moscow is the only direct air route to Russia from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River area. Photos provided to China Daily

(China Daily 05/18/2015 page6)