Driven by the Belt and Road Initiative, Xinjiang has witnessed tangible progress in infrastructure development and cross-border cooperation.

In a recent interview with China Daily, Hussein Askary, vice-chairman of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden, pointed out that Xinjiang has been transformed from a remote border region into a central hub of the Eurasian connectivity network and a logistics center, thanks to the development of the Silk Road Economic Belt and major investments in infrastructure projects.

He said that Xinjiang offers "a great lesson on how to turn an arid dry area with the second largest desert in the world into a garden."