Kazakhs visiting in records numbers after visa-free agreement

An owner of a restaurant in Altay, the man went to Kazakhstan for two weeks to seek experience managing a hotpot restaurant while traveling around.

"The visa-free policy has facilitated my travel. It takes a day for us to arrive in Kazakhstan by bus," he said.

With a strategic location connecting four countries, the port holds qualifications for the import of oil and gas, animal feed, fresh and frozen aquatic products, as well as for the export of fruits and vegetables.

Given the close access to agricultural resources in neighboring countries, Jeminay county was designated as the first national agricultural open-up and cooperation pilot zone in Xinjiang by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2017.

Wang Zhifu, deputy director of the pilot zone, said the zone has been facilitating the export of fruits and vegetables produced in China as well as advanced agricultural equipment to Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, goods such as frozen aquatic products and sunflower oilseed have been imported to China through the port, Wang said.

"A batch of king crabs is expected to enter China from the port for the first time and transported to inland China by the end of September," he said.

Figures of the port show that last year, a total of 210,700 tons of goods were imported and exported through highway, seeing a year-on-year increase of 86 percent.

Among the 3,700 tons of imports through the port, aquatic products totaled about 970 tons, marking the largest number in Xinjiang, according to the port.

Exports reached 207,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 84.8 percent, including a record number of 19,827 domestic-made vehicles for sale, such as new energy cars.