China-Laos Railway enhances cross-border trade, travel

The China-Laos Railway has facilitated travel and the movement of goods along its route over the past three years.

The 1,035-kilometer railway, a flagship project within the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, connects China's southwestern city of Kunming with the Laotian capital of Vientiane.

Starting operation on Dec 3, 2021, it links the new western land-sea corridor and the China-Europe international railway network, extending its cross-border cargo transportation services to 19 countries and regions, including Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Over the past three years, the railway has transported more than 43 million passengers and 48 million tons of cargo, marking a surge of both passenger and cargo transport.

Feng Zhuoliang, a banana trader from Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, has benefited from the railway. His company buys approximately 1,000 tons of bananas each month from Mohan, a border town in Yunnan Province.

"I arrived yesterday afternoon. Since then, I've ordered two trucks of goods. My plan today is to purchase around three trucks more," said Feng.

Compared with the road transport, the China-Laos Railway can reduce transportation by three to four days, and lower losses caused from the handling of goods during border transits, Feng said.

The China-Laos Railway has also cut freight costs by 30 percent to 50 percent for shipment between Kunming and Thailand, and by 20 percent to 40 percent for transport within Laos.

In the last three years, the railway served 31 provinces, regions, and municipalities in China and 19 other countries and regions, including Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore.

In terms of the passenger transport, the daily trains on the China-Laos Railway's domestic section have risen from eight to a peak of 86, and on the international section from four to 16. Monthly passenger numbers have grown from over 600,000 to more than 1.6 million.

"The railway has significantly facilitated the travel for people along the route. We have added extra trains during weekends and holidays," said Dai Rui, a conductor of the Kunming Passenger Transport Section of China Railway Kunming Group.

China-Laos Railway enhances cross-border trade, travel

China-Laos Railway enhances cross-border trade, travel

It is hoped that more French and European companies will continue to develop their business operations in China and share its development opportunities, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng said on Tuesday.

He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during a meeting in Beijing with Frédéric Oudéa, chairman of the board of directors of French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi.

He said that economic and trade cooperation between China, France, and the broader European continent has many converging interests and strong complementarities, providing broad space for development.

China is continuously opening up to the outside world at a high level and building a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment, He said, welcoming more French and European companies, including Sanofi Group, to continue to develop in China and share its development opportunities.

Oudéa said that Sanofi Group is optimistic about the prospects of China's economic development and is willing to deepen its presence in the Chinese market and contribute more practical results to the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and France and between China and Europe.

Chinese vice premier encourages foreign firms to continuously invest, develop in China