(ECNS) -- China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has consciously integrated its regional opening-up strategy into the country's overall plan of opening up to the west, according to a white paper issued on Friday by the State Council Information Office.

The document, titled "CPC Guidelines for Governing Xinjiang in the New Era: Practice and Achievements," said Xinjiang aims to build a golden channel across the Eurasian continent and a gateway for opening up to the west.

Consequently, it has accelerated the development of broader channels for opening up. Xinjiang has established 19 ports, including the Kunjirap Port, which is open all year round, according to the white paper.

In 2024, a total of 16,400 freight trains traveled through Xinjiang on the China-Europe Railway Express, marking the fifth consecutive year that the annual number of trains on this route had surpassed 10,000, it said.

The white paper also noted that the number of Xinjiang's economic and trade partners also increased significantly from a small handful in the 1950s to 196 countries and regions in 2012, and to 211 in 2024.

The platform for opening up has improved further. China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone was approved and set up in October 2023. Over the following year, more than 9,000 enterprises moved into the Zone, whose total import and export value accounted for over 30 percent of the region's total, it said.

(By Zhang Dongfang)