Zhinews of Shenzhen Satellite TV:

It's well known that the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in the western region is a new international land and sea trade route jointly developed by western Chinese provinces and ASEAN countries. As the operational center, what progress has Chongqing made in constructing the corridor, and how will the city further enhance its capacity for opening-up to the rest of the world in the next phase? Thank you.

Hu Henghua:

Thank you for your questions. Mr. Zheng will answer them.

Zheng Xiangdong:

Thank you for your attention to the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. As its initiator, contributor, and builder, the Chongqing government has actively played its role as the logistics and operations center. We have proactively collaborated with relevant ministries and departments, the "13+2" domestic provinces, autonomous regions, and cities along the route, and ASEAN countries to promote the high-quality development of the corridor. We have made the following progress:

We have promoted infrastructure construction, accelerating the formation of a transportation network for the corridor, crossing both mountains and sea. We regularly operate rail-sea freight trains, international railway trains, and trans-border highway shuttle buses, while expanding new routes for China-Laos-Thailand international trains and China-Myanmar road-rail combined transportaion. The transportation network currently links 514 ports in 123 countries and regions.

We have advanced industrial and trade cooperation to promote high-quality economic development in the corridor. With the idea of "the corridor creating logistics, logistics serving economy and trade, economy and trade driving industries, and industries aggregating elements," we have planned and constructed the Chongqing International Logistics Hub Park from a high starting point, focusing on developing industries such as complete sets of mechanized equipment, advanced materials, modern logistics. As of April this year, the first batch of major projects, with a total investment of 40 billion yuan, has been signed and construction has started.

We have reduced logistics costs while improving efficiency to make operations in the corridor more convenient. We have worked holistically on reform, innovation, and digital empowerment. In 2023, the comprehensive logistics costs in the corridor decreased by 3.5% year on year. Connectivity and data sharing between customs and railway systems have been greatly promoted through digital corridor construction, providing highly efficient services for market entities.

We have boosted international communication and cooperation to expand the corridor's network of partners. We have synergized the construction of the corridor with the China-Singapore bilateral cooperation mechanism and the Lancang-Mekong River cooperation platform. We have also regularly held international cooperation forums and established a tourism promotion alliance to encourage regions along the corridor to open up.

Looking forward, we will focus on the following three aspects to improve the level of opening-up. First, we will continuously optimize the transportation network, accelerate infrastructure construction, upgrade the collection and distribution systems for international logistics, and maintain the daily shipping route between Qinzhou and Singapore. Second, we will constantly improve cooperation platforms, deepen cross-border cooperation in supply and industrial chains, and establish a west- and south-oriented international trade center. Third, we will consistently emphasize reform and innovation, explore new land-sea trade rules, expand the application scale of "one bill of lading" services for the multimodal transportation, and iteratively upgrade the digital corridor construction. By doing so, we expect to achieve more remarkable outcomes for the corridor. Thank you.