BRI enables Xi'an to allure more entrepreneurs

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, is further integrating itself into the BRI construction and attracting more entrepreneurs to start businesses in the city.

Yuan Chaohui, president of Shaanxi Silk Road City Holding Group, and his wife Anita Jumekenova from Kazakhstan set up a company in 2015 called Xi'an Silk Road E-commerce Co. Two years later, Shaanxi Silk Road City Holding Group was established.

Relying on Xi'an's geographical advantages and the China-Europe Chang'an freight train, Yuan's company has now established six overseas warehouses in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus.

After recently obtaining a vehicle export license, Yuan has decided to challenge a new field. As such, he will sell domestically produced new energy vehicles in Kazakhstan and the entire Central Asian region by making use of the China-Europe Chang'an freight train.

Another entrepreneur from the Republic of the Congo who goes by the Chinese name Ying Yong and who graduated from Chang'an University with a master's degree has obtained the first entrepreneurial visa for a foreigner in the Shaanxi Pilot Free Trade Zone.

He established Shaanxi Junrui Chengtian Culture Media Co, which is mainly engaged in advertising agency and production business, recording the life of foreign students in China in the form of videos, and promoting exchanges of Chinese and African culture.

He said he chose to stay in China because he wanted to start a business in Xi'an to contribute to China-Africa cultural exchanges.

Matmusaev Doniyor, a student from Northwestern Polytechnical University in Uzbekistan, rejected an invitation from a well-known company from Shenzhen, and plans to set up his own international trading company in Xi'an in July.

"The entrepreneurial environment in Xi'an is very good. After the on-the-spot understanding during the internship period, I saw the development opportunities and space for development in Xi'an, which strengthened my determination and confidence to stay and take root here to start a business," Doniyor said.

More young entrepreneurs are finding their career and life paths in Xi'an as the city plays a key role in helping to support the BRI.