Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, Hunan province has revved up efforts to build an inland transport hub, open up its economy and boost high-quality development, according to local officials.

 

"Hunan aims to create a highland for reform and opening-up and advance all-around growth through the Belt and Road Initiative," said Zhang Qingwei, Party secretary of Hunan.

 

A China-Europe freight train carrying nearly 400 excavators and other construction machines departed from Kaifu district, Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan, for Antwerp, Belgium in July.

 

It was the second intelligent shipment developed by the Changsha-based Sunward Intelligent Equipment Group in 2022.

 

In the first half of this year, Sunward's smart exports increased by 60 percent year-on-year, of which excavators increased by 80 percent and mining equipment increased by 200 percent.

 

Since its launch in October 2014, a total of 3,141 China-Europe freight train service have been operated in Changsha, and the number of train routes has increased to 14, reaching nearly 100 cities in Europe and Asia.

 

The prosperous development of China-Europe trains is the epitome of Hunan's development of an opening-up highland.

 

In the past 10 years, Hunan's foreign trade has experienced leap-forward growth.

 

The total import and export volume reached 597.28 billion yuan ($82.96 billion) in 2021 from 138.57 billion yuan in 2012, with an average annual growth of 25.2 percent in the past five years.

 

In May, Sinoboom, a construction machinery company in Ningxiang, Changsha, finished construction of its overseas manufacturing base in Europe.

 

The annual production capacity can reach 20,000 units.

 

In the past three years, Sinoboom has successively established five overseas subsidiaries in regions including North America and Europe.

 

Its products cover more than 70 countries and regions globally and more than 100,000 devices produced by the company are in operation around the world.

 

In the field of investment promotion, Hunan has achieved substantial growth over the past decade.

 

In 2021, the paid-in foreign capital reached $2.41 billion, an increase of 72.3 percent year-on-year. The total amount ranked 13th in the country and second in China's central region. There are 188 Fortune Global 500 companies involved, including Schaeffler, BASF, Continental and Aeon.

 

Hunan's breakthroughs have also been made in foreign economic cooperation.

 

The province's economic and trade ties have expanded to 227 countries and regions around the world.

 

More than 1,700 Hunan enterprises have entered the global market.

 

The province's outbound direct investment ranks among the top 10 in the country and the first in the central region.

 

Based on the two platforms of the China-Africa Economic and Trade In-depth Cooperation Pilot Zone and the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, the economic and trade exchanges between Hunan and African countries are increasing.

 

In 2021, Hunan's trade with Africa reached 40.39 billion yuan, an increase of 1.6 times from 2012, ranking eighth in the country and first in central China.

 

The Hunan-based China Construction Fifth Engineering Bureau is building the fourth Bridge of Abidjan in the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire, and the main bridge will open by December.

 

As a key infrastructure project for people's livelihoods in Cote d'Ivoire, the bridge will greatly ease traffic pressure in Abidjan and optimize urban travel conditions.

 

In particular, the bridge, as a typical project under the BRI, has offered nearly 1,500 jobs for local people, becoming a model of China's and Africa's friendly cooperation.

 

In the field of agriculture, cooperation between Hunan and Africa has also continuously achieved new results.

 

Chinese-developed hybrid rice from Hunan is thriving in Madagascar and Nigeria while contributing to the food supply of the regions.

 

On June 21, the Hunan-headquartered LongPing Agriscience took the lead in signing a cooperation agreement with the ministry of agriculture of Tanzania.

 

The agreement is expected to achieve a stable supply of 500,000 metric tons of soybean grains per year for the country within three to five years. It will also build the largest seed production, processing and trading center in East Africa.

 

Over the past 10 years, Hunan has widened its market and played a key role in driving the development of the dual-circulation growth paradigm.

 

On July 27, the Changsha-Addis Ababa cargo flight was officially launched. It was the first international cargo route from Hunan to Africa and the first regular intercontinental cargo route opened by the Changsha Huanghua International Airport this year. Hunan's combined transport system integrating international cargo flights, China-Europe freight trains and cross-region logistics channels have shortened the time and space between the province and the world.