President Xi Jinping urged South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Sunday to accelerate its opening-up, as the region's key role in the fast-advancing Silk Road initiatives has often been emphasized.

The autonomous region should prioritize economic restructuring, build an open economy and expand cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Xi said at a meeting with Guangxi deputies to the National People's Congress.

Beijing has repeatedly underscored during the ongoing national legislative and consultative meetings that the plans to revive the Silk Road trading routes are a focal point of its 2015 diplomacy.