Many State-owned and private businesses in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region are hiring more local people as they are pursuing a larger foothold in a lucrative market with more access to Chinese companies on the Silk Road economic belt.

Meng Fengchao, chairman of China Railway Construction Co, said on the sidelines of the fourth China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi on Wednesday that as Xinjiang plans to build more international rail routes on the Silk Road economic belt to compete with established rivals in China's western and central regions, the company has seen lots of potential in this market.

This years, Xinjiang will offer two regular international block train services - trains whose cars all share the same point of origin and destination. The first train will depart from Urumqi to Mersin in southern Turkey via Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran by the end of this year. Another train service to Moscow will be launched at the same time.