The China-Laos Railway handled 177,000 passenger trips and transported 13.8 billion yuan (around 1.94 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods in the first three quarters of this year, up by 175.6 percent and 50.5 percent year on year, respectively, data from the Kunming Customs showed.
The railway has seen passengers from over 101 countries and regions and transported goods to 19 countries including Laos, Thailand and Singapore, according to the latest data.
The China-Laos Railway connects Kunming in Yunnan Province with the Laotian capital Vientiane. The 1,035-km railway, a landmark project of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, started operation on Dec. 3, 2021.
China-Laos Railway sees brisk passenger, cargo transport in first three quarters
Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), held talks with speaker of the Finnish parliament Jussi Halla-aho in Beijing on Monday, to discuss relations between their two countries.
Noting this year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Finland, Zhao said China stands ready to work together with Finland to deliver on the important consensus reached between the top leaders of the two countries, and promote continuous development of the China-Finland future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership.
China is further deepening reform comprehensively and expanding high-standard opening up, which will bring new opportunities for bilateral cooperation, Zhao said, noting China is willing to make joint efforts with Finland to expand win-win cooperation and cement public support for bilateral relations.
China hopes that Finland will continue to play a positive role in boosting mutual promotion and common development of China-Finland relations and of relations between China and the European Union (EU), Zhao said.
Zhao said that the NPC is ready to carry forward the traditional friendship and implement close exchange and cooperation with the Finnish parliament.
As China and Finland each have their own characteristics in national governance and development concepts, the national legislatures of the two countries can learn from each other and play their legislative and supervisory roles to create a sound and stable legal environment for practical cooperation between the two countries, he said.
For his part, Halla-aho said that Finland stays committed to the one-China policy, noting the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China.
On the basis of mutual respect and trust, Finland is willing to promote practical bilateral cooperation, safeguard free trade and tackle common challenges, said Halla-aho, noting that the Finnish parliament hopes for enhanced exchange with China's NPC, so as to play a positive role in deepening the relations between Finland and China.
China's top legislator holds talks with Finland's parliament speaker on relations
