As the Shanghai Cooperation Organization develops, member states are becoming more and more integrated with each other. Our reporter Guan Yang went to a town on the China-Russia border, to see how a bridge is bringing the two SCO powerhouses closer. Zhou Jianqiao's name means "bridge builder". His father helped build China's first bridge across the Yangtze River in the 1950s. The name describes pretty much everything Zhou has been doing over the past 30 years. But this bridge on the border with Russia is a challenge for him.

ZHOU JIANQIAO, ENGINEER, CHINA MAJOR BRIDGE ENGINEERING "Before this bridge, I'd never worked on a project in the northeast. Winters here can be harsh for people like me from warmer parts of the country."

For the Chinese contractor, getting things done under minus 30 to minus 40 degree Celsius takes more than just courage: things get tricky when there's floating ice.

Construction of the bridge started in 2014, but came to a halt due to funding problems and building delays in Russia.

China finished its part of the bridge in 2016, but things on the Russian side have just started picking up the pace.

LIN YONGQUAN, SECRETARY OF THE WORKING COMMITTEE, 2ND ENGINEERING BUREAU, CHINA MAJOR BRIDGE ENGINEERING "Russia hasn't been involved in this kind of project for quite some time, so engineers from both sides had to meet frequently to solve technical difficulties. We have been patiently waiting for our Russian partners to finish their job, and our company has also made financial sacrifices while we waited."

GUAN YANG, TONGJIANG, HEILONGJIANG PROVINCE "Historically, joint infrastructure projects have been good ways to pull nations together. This highly anticipated steel and concrete piece of work, when completed, will become the first of any kind to connect China and Russia across the 4,300 kilometers of boundary line, and set an example of how connectivity can be enhanced among SCO member countries."

The bridge has cost 2.6 billion yuan, about the price of five Boeing 737 aircraft. It will link China's northeast railway network with Russia's Siberian railways. This will provide a new connection to European markets, and cut the distance for customers by about 700 kilometers.

One expert says the long and difficult process shows there might be difficulties for the two sides to overcome in their future partnership on developing the East Asian region.

LIU XICHUN, DIRECTOR, CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT, CHINA RAILWAY HARBIN GROUP "The bridge will provide a service that Heilongjiang province and the East Asian region need, because the more cross-border infrastructure links there are, the greater the opportunities for increasing the flow of goods."

Heilongjiang's trade with Russia reached $11 billion US dollars in 2017, a 20 percent year-on-year increase. When China's then-Vice Premier Wang Yang met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev in Harbin early this year, both sides agreed the shared border can promote closer cooperation in various sectors. The 2nd China-Russia oil pipeline started operations in January, and construction of a cross-border natural gas pipeline is in full swing.

Together with other cross-border infrastructure programs aimed at enhancing connectivity among China, Russia, Central Europe, and Central Asia, the China-Russian railway bridge is just one of the many shared routes being rolled out to meet future demands among SCO members. GUAN YANG, CGTN.