China spearheads APEC initiatives for regional integration

China is spearheading initiatives launched at the just-concluded annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting and calling for a more integrated Asia-Pacific region.
Transport authorities in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have signed a contract with Kyrgyzstan, vowing to resume two regular cross-border bus services linking Xinjiang with cities in the neighboring country. One bus will run between Kashgar and Jalal-Abad, and another will run between Artux and Osh. The four cities are important posts in the "Silk Road Economic Belt" that China is actively promoting.
In addition to connecting with Asia-Pacific countries by land and sea, China is also promoting regional cooperation in terms of personnel exchange and logistics.
China's Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that China and the United States will grant each other's citizens business or tourist visas with multiple entries and a maximum validity of ten years.
In the past two days, the two countries issued their first round of ten-year visas to citizens of each other's countries.
In the eastern metropolis of Shanghai, the APEC initiative known as the Asia-Pacific Model E-port Network is being built.
Shen Weihua, vice chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, said the platform will transcend time differences and digitize the customs clearance process to make foreign trade data accessible online.
Enterprises in Shanghai will be able to directly make customs declarations to Hong Kong and the United States through the Internet, and companies in other APEC economies will also be able to apply for customs clearance to Shanghai Customs via their own e-ports, he said.
In the city of Tianjin, another APEC initiative, the first pilot center for the Cooperation Network on Green Supply Chain of APEC, is under construction.
The network aims to conduct applied research on the green supply chain and establish pilot centers and information-sharing websites, said assistant general manager of Tianjin Innovative Finance Investment Company, Mu Lingling, who is in charge of the preparation work.