Sichuan Opening Up: China-Europe Railway Express helps unleash trade potential

World
Europe

The China-Europe Railway Express is a transportation network connecting 60 cities in China with 15 European countries. The system in southwestern China is one of the busiest ones. As CGTN reporter Meng Qingsheng finds out, the freight train service, as part of local opening-up policies, has helped unleash huge trade potential between China and Europe.

From southwestern China's Chengdu City, television manufacturer Skyworth delivers its first batch of products, onboard the China-Europe Railway Express. The freight train, heading for Lodz, Poland, carries 41 cabinets loaded with TV displays, motherboards and other spare parts.

WANG ZHIGUO, PRESIDENT SHENZHEN SKYWORTH-RGB "The China-Europe Express helps connect the manufacturing and distribution ends of our products. We hope to improve supply chains and production strategies and integrate into the European market. And we are planning to bring an automated production line to the continent, and better supply markets there."

Presently, the "Chengdu-Europe" freight train connects 25 overseas cities and 14 domestic ones. It is one of the fastest and most stable direct routes from China to Europe.

MENG QINGSHENG CHENGDU, SICHUAN "Departing from here, it takes roughly two weeks for cargo trains to travel the 10 thousand kilometer distance between China and Europe. It's about a month faster than traveling by sea while costing relatively the same. Since it was launched in 2013, this logistical solution has helped open up China's hinterland and contribute to a boom in bilateral trade relations."

Official statistics show two-way trade between China and the EU hit a record high of over 680 billion US dollars in 2018, up more than 10 percent year-on-year.

ZHENG QUANFENG, DIRECTOR ADMIN. COMMITTEE OF CHENGDU INT'L RAILWAY PORT "The bulk of commodities delivered by freight trains to European countries are IT products, laptops and machinery. On the return journey, we usually take back consumer goods, like wine and formula milk, as demanded by the Chinese market."

European enterprises continue to embrace the Chinese market by expanding their businesses.

KASIA WILKOWIECKA CONSUL GENERAL OF POLAND IN CHENGDU "In many cases, our food production is more ecological, so that we use less fertilizers than our Western neighbors. Our products are innovative. Of my opinion, China has already experienced good trade with Europe. But we would like to have it both ways."

Hailing its maiden freight train transport, Skyworth plans to export 1.5 million TV sets from Sichuan to Europe this year.

WANG ZHIGUO, PRESIDENT SHENZHEN SKYWORTH-RGB "We need to focus on the content of our service, as well as ways to meet European standards, especially when it comes to privacy protection. We hope to include more services in our smart TV designs in Europe."

Since its debut in 2013, China Railway Express trains have left Sichuan for Europe over three thousand times, generating more than three billion US dollars of imports and exports. Altogether, the province has built 7 international railway channels and 5 rail-sea intermodal transport corridors to further open up. Meng Qingsheng, CGTN, Chengdu, Sichuan Province.