«Khorgos» ICBC officially opened customs on the border of Kazakhstan and China

Almaty. August 22. Silkroadnews – Customs of «Khorgos» International Center for Boundary Cooperation (ICBC) started work on the border of Kazakhstan and China on Thursday, «Xinhua» agency said.

ICBC customs opening is expected to raise the level of customs control and service in the center, which is the first cross-border free trade zone between Kazakhstan and China. Customs is also to play an important role in transformation of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region into the key area of the Silk Road Economic Belt.

ICBC «Khorgos» is the first area of cross-border trade two countries established. The center is spread along the Chinese-Kazakhstani border; Chinese part of ICBC is 3.43 square kilometers, Kazakhstani part takes 1.85 square kilometers.

ICBC was put into operation in April 2012. Since then the number of center's visitors continues to grow. In 2015 3.66 million people visited the center. In January-June 2016 ICBC was visited by 2.285 million people which is a 52% growth in number of visitors on a year-on-year basis.