BEIJING, Mar. 9 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Shaanxi Province has embraced great opportunities in the Belt and Road construction with its advantages in location, industry and talents.
Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, has taken construction of a new starting point of the Silk Road Economic Belt as a chance to guide development of the western region in China, said Shangguan Jiqing, a deputy to the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) and Mayor of Xi'an.
In addition to the location advantage, the industry advantage has also brought opportunities to Shaanxi in the Belt and Road construction.
Shaanxi's mining and metallurgy research institutes and energy research institutes enjoy a powerful strength in prospecting. Now, countries in Central Asia, Australia, New Zealand, etc., have cooperated with them on prospecting, said Shaanxi Governor Lou Qinjian, also a deputy to the12th NPC.
Each year, the province helps cultivate more than 1,000 undergraduates in energy and chemical aspects for the Central Asian countries. In addition, Shaanxi's Coal and Chemical Industry Group invested in building an oil refinery in Kyrgyzstan to help promote local energy development, Lou added.
Apart from the advantage in mining, energy and chemical industries, Shaanxi also enjoys an advantage in agriculture.
Especially, in recent years, at the annual China Yangling Agricultural Hi-Tech Fair, Shaanxi has carried out a lot of cooperation projects with Russia, Canada, Australia and other Central Asian countries, said Lou.
It is worth noting that in the Belt and Road construction, Shaanxi also has an outstanding talent advantage.
Last year, Shaanxi Xi Xian New Area and Xi'an Jiaotong University jointly launched a technical innovation project to build it into an international high-level talent base and a scientific research platform, which will effectively promote the industry-university-research cooperation and enhance the efficiency of using scientific research funds, according to Wang Shuguo, a deputy to the 12th NPC and President of Xi'an Jiaotong University. (Edited by Hu Pingchao, hupingchao@xinhua.org)
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