That President Xi Jinping proposed to renovate the "economic zone of the Silk Road" in his meeting with Kazakhstan officials on different occasions is of great importance for the integration of Asia as well as the development of West China, if the governments can translate Xi's words into concrete action, said an article in the 21st Century Business Herald (excerpts below).

More and more economic factors flow along the economic zone of the Silk Road from China to central Asia. Governments of different countries should step up efforts in coordinating policies on tariffs and exchange rates to give concrete meaning to the concept of the zone. Relevant countries need to upgrade their trade and economic cooperation level on a solid basis of political ties.

China has already become the largest trade partner with central Asia in the robust growth of trade over the past decade.

The infrastructure construction across the region will improve the inter-connectivity between the countries, which will bring business opportunities in mining, energy resources, and tourism and people-to-people exchanges.

These are the foundation for the blueprint of a free trade area in central Asia, which will also provide an alternative opportunity for the internationalization of Renminbi.

After the Silk Road declined for hundreds of years after the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the vast region of West China will have new access to the outside world to its west.