2015年CRI 中哈霍尔果斯边境合作中心边境贸易蓬勃发展（在线收听）

The Sino-Kazakh International Cross-boundary Cooperation Center was first established in 2012 as a joint free-trade zone linking China and Kazakhstan.

It's located on the border in the northwestern border city of Khorgos in Xinjiang.

Khorgos is a Special Economic Zone, with 5-square kilometers on the Chinese side designated as a duty-free area.

Even though the new passanger train service from the city of Lianyungang in Jiangsu to the Kazakh city of Almaty won't be operational until next month, business in Khorgos is already booming.

Around a million people have already made their way through the cross-border cooperation center so far this year, which is double the number of people during the same period last year.

Border trade in the free-trade zone has also shot up by some 90-percent this year.

Nie Yongle with the Khorgos Merchants Group says much of this is thanks to the development of transportation infrastructure in the region.

"The airport in Yining, which is the capital of the Ili Kazakh prefecture, is now being enlarged. At the same time, the expressway between Lianyungang and Khorgos has been opened up, and the construction of another expressway linking Khorgos and Almaty is underway. Once its done, it will be a highway network linking China with Central Asia and Europe."

The links between the far northwestern region of China and the country's coast in Jiangsu is already drawing new businesses.

Qi Xing, who runs a textile company in Jiangsu, set up operations in Khorgos 3-months ago.

He says while the benefits of the border crossing are obvious, more still needs to be done to make Khorgos a more active cross-border trading area.

"Every day, people from the Kazahk side have to stand in line for at least one to two hours to get into Khorgos. I think the customs clearance procedures are still complicated and can be simplified by the authorities on the Khorgos side."

Mahira Amraeva from Kazakhstan runs a grocery store on the Chinese side with her boyfriend, and often goes back and forth between the two sides for supplies from the Kazakh side.

"Right now, we have some trouble when going through the custom clearance procedures. Due to the language differences, sometimes it's difficult to communicate with the Chinese custom officers."

Chinese authorities have been introducing new steps to make customs clearance procedures more efficient.

Meanwhile, major construction projects are still underway on the Kazahk side of the border crossing.

Authorities say once that work is completed, it should help foster even more cross-border trade.

For CRI, I am Wang Mengzhen.