At midnight on January 1st, a whistle cut through the night sky, and the China-Europe Railway (Xi'an) carrying 45 containers of photovoltaic components departed from Xi'an International Port Station, crossing Kazakhstan, spanning the Caspian Sea, and finally arriving in Baku, Azerbaijan.
This is the first cross-Caspian China-Europe train in the country in 2026. The train's operation time has been shortened from 15 to 23 days at the beginning of the operation in 2019 to about 11 days at present. As of the end of November 2025, the cross-Caspian China-Europe train (Xi'an) has cumulatively operated 466 trains, providing a stable transport capacity guarantee for the high-quality development of the "Belt and Road" co-construction.
The ceaseless flow of trains, the efficient operation of the system, the fully loaded carriages... The China-Europe Railway Express (Xi'an), a barometer of foreign trade vitality, clearly outlines the strong resilience of Shaanxi's goods trade.
Data from the Xi'an Customs shows that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the total value of goods imported and exported by Shaanxi increased by an average of 4.7 percent per year; from January to November 2025, the total value of goods imported and exported by Shaanxi reached 472.04 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.7 percent, exceeding the full year of 2024.
Shaanxi's foreign trade has achieved steady progress and improvement in both quantity and quality, mainly due to the support of a complete industrial system, the vitality brought by new productive forces, and the spirit of foreign trade enterprises to face difficulties and strive for progress.
Look at the products, break the ice with "new". In the first 11 months of 2025, the export value of Shaanxi's electromechanical products reached 281.24 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%, accounting for 86.1% of the total export value of the province. Among them, the export growth rate of integrated circuits, automobiles (including chassis), and automatic data processing equipment all exceeded 20%. From precision chips to new energy vehicles, from intelligent equipment to photovoltaic components, "Shaanxi制造" led by innovation and supported by green development is increasingly prominent in global competition.
Looking at the business, integrating efforts. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the annual growth rate of cross-border e-commerce transactions is 25%; in 2024, the import and export of service trade increased by 30.3% year-on-year, 15.9 percentage points higher than the national average, and the open economic structure continues to be optimized. A number of provincial-level cross-border e-commerce industrial parks have emerged, and foreign trade comprehensive service enterprises are growing vigorously, which has effectively promoted "Shaanxi Purchase" to cross the sea and "邮费 included".
Looking at the market, multi-dimensional expansion. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the total import and export value of Shaanxi to the countries and regions participating in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" increased by an average of 11.7% per year; in the first 11 months of 2025, the growth rates of Shaanxi's imports and exports to ASEAN, China Taiwan, and the EU were 3.3%, 71.4%, and 39.1%, respectively. Shaanxi continues to strengthen the coordination and linkage of trade policies and fiscal and taxation, finance, and industrial policies, precisely helping enterprises "go global", and the doors to emerging markets such as Central Asia, Latin America, and Africa are opening wider and wider.
In recent years, as the Belt and Road Initiative has been further implemented, Shaanxi enterprises have become more and more confident in going global. They are not only transporting "Shaanxi制造" to the world, but also integrating deeply into the global industrial chain with technology, standards and services, enabling more and more advantageous technologies and characteristic industries to blossom and bear fruit overseas.
In Kyrgyzstan, the Zhongda Petroleum Refinery Project under Shaanxi Coal Group can produce more than 2 million tons of various refined oil products, accounting for about one-third of the local refined oil market share, and also provides more than 1,300 local jobs;
In Uzbekistan, the largest single photovoltaic project in the Central Asian region, which has adopted隆基Hi-MO series high-efficiency photovoltaic components, has an annual power generation of 2.4 billion kilowatt-hours, saving 520 million cubic meters of natural gas for the country every year;
In Saudi Arabia, the new waterproof and water-retaining material independently developed by Minneng has been successfully applied to the control of desertification, effectively alleviating the problem of water shortage in arid areas and providing a "Chinese solution" for the ecological governance of the Middle East.
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The potential of the open economy continues to be released, and Shaanxi's foreign cooperation continues to deepen. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Shaanxi's foreign direct investment and the completion of contracted projects reached $1.585 billion and $7.64 billion, respectively. The Xi'an Aiju Group's Kazakhstan Grain and Oil Products Logistics Center Project and the Croatia Pilegratz Bridge Project have become models of cooperation.
More and more foreign-funded enterprises are investing and building factories in Shaanxi to share the benefits of development.
Recently, the new energy industry base of Etown Electrical Group in the Asia-Pacific region was established in Xian High-tech Zone, with a direct investment of 100 million yuan, 17 years after the group's first investment in Xian.
Eaton is a global smart power management company with operations in more than 160 countries. "The headquarters is very cautious about investment decisions, paying special attention to the integrity of the industrial chain," said Wu Long, Director of Product and Project of Eaton's Asia-Pacific Business, who added that over the years, Xi'an High-tech Zone has provided significant support in terms of upstream and downstream support, talent reserve, and policy support, which has also given them confidence to increase investment and expand production here.
Eton's increased investment is a microcosm of the accelerated layout of foreign enterprises in Shaanxi.
From early major foreign-funded projects such as Samsung, Micron, and Honeywell, to recent major foreign-funded projects such as Rongda Semiconductor, Korea PSK Semiconductor, and BBS Group, a batch of major foreign-funded projects have been successively implemented, which has continuously enhanced the investment attractiveness of Shaanxi. At the same time, the rise of local enterprises represented by Xi'an Yiswei and Nova Star has accelerated the gathering of upstream and downstream supporting enterprises in Xi'an, and promoted the continuous expansion of the local industrial chain.
Behind the deep cultivation of Shaanxi, there is a continuously optimized business environment in the three Qin land, and there is a solid implementation of measures to stabilize foreign investment.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Shaanxi has taken expanding opening-up as an important engine for high-quality development, held the provincial conference on the development of opening-up, established the Provincial Leading Group for Opening-up, Provincial Economic Cooperation Bureau, and other measures to further strengthen the organizational guarantee for the development of an open economy.
Meanwhile, Shaanxi has established mechanisms such as the provincial leadership-led foreign trade and foreign investment coordination and foreign investment promotion joint meetings, perfected measures such as the "green channel" for multinational companies and "one-to-one" services for key enterprises, and introduced a series of policies such as the implementation opinions on promoting the high-quality development of the open economy and the action plan for the upgrading strategy of the free trade pilot zone, building a strong support system for the full-coverage open system.
The proposal of the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee on formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for the national economy and social development has proposed to "accelerate the pace of opening up to the inside and outside", "play the role of the 'Belt and Road' as an important node and an important base for opening up to the west", and "build a solid pattern of all-round opening up".
The spring breeze of policy blows over the three Qin, and the land of openness is full of vitality. As of now, the actual use of foreign capital in Shaanxi has cumulatively reached $5.55 billion, with an average annual growth rate of 18.4%. A total of 1,889 foreign-funded enterprises have been established, with a contracted foreign capital of $13.33 billion. At present, 93 countries and regions have established 8,892 foreign-funded enterprises in Shaanxi, and more than 200 Fortune Global 500 companies have invested and started businesses on this fertile soil, seeking common development.
Standing at a new historical starting point, Shaanxi will participate in global cooperation with a more open attitude and open up a new world of development. (Reported by Xiao Qian, People's Daily reporter)