BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) has become an important force for advancing peaceful development and driving economic growth in the LMC region seven years after it was launched with fruitful results. Trade between China and other five LMC countries reached 416.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 5 percent.
China’s Chongqing Municipality, Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region which have actively participated in LMC, also yielded concrete achievements in terms of facility connectivity, economic and trade exchanges, financial cooperation and informatization.
-- Multiple measures taken to boost connectivity and coordinated development
This photo taken on April 11, 2023 shows the exterior view of the Vientiane station of the China-laos Railway in Vientiane, Laos. (Photo by Chen Chang/Xinhua)
In recent years, the efforts made through LMC on infrastructure construction have further improved regional connectivity. Projects such as the China-Laos Railway, China-Laos-Thailand round-trip freight train, Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway and China-Vietnam cross-border freight train set great examples for South-South Cooperation and high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.
Data from Laos-China Railway Co., Ltd. shows that the Laos section of the China-Laos Railway ran 1,130 freight trains from January 1 to April 13 of 2023, an increase of 122 percent year on year, with freight volume exceeding 1.18 million tonnes. Among them, 1.08 million tonnes of goods were shipped from Laos to China, a year-on-year increase of 376 percent. The China-Laos Railway carried 11.88 million passengers in China section and 2.2 million in Laos section.
According to China Railway Kunming Group Co., Ltd., the China-Laos-Thailand round-trip freight train launched this February traveling from Kunming to Bangkok with a reloading stop in Vientiane, helps shorten the travel time by about one day compared to the previous route (a combination of railway and highway), reduce the transportation cost by more than 20 percent, and build a more efficient and stable cold chain logistics channel.
This aerial photo taken on Feb. 25, 2023 shows the container terminal at Qinzhou Port in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin)
In the meantime, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) has become one of the logistics arteries connecting countries and markets in the Lancang-Mekong region, thus facilitating unimpeded trade among LMC countries.
The ILSTC rail-sea intermodal train (Chongqing-LMC countries) achieved freight volume of 54,000 TEUs as of the end of this February, with cargo valued at 10.25 billion yuan. The cross-border highway shuttle vehicles to the other five LMC countries reached 12,498, carrying 28,000 TEUs worth over 7.7 billion yuan, according to Liu Wei, Director of ILSTC Logistics and Operations Organization Center.
According to the head of the Comprehensive Planning Division of the Guangxi Department of Transportation and Nanning Customs, China-Vietnam cross-border freight trains ran 2,182 trains (via Pingxiang, Guangxi) in 2022, an increase of 14.6 percent.
-- Fruitful results achieved to further boost economic growth
LMC has deepened economic and trade exchanges with concrete achievements that inject new momentum into regional economic prosperity.
Photo taken on Aug. 24, 2020 shows a nursery for seedlings and stock plantlets which was established as a project under Lancang-Mekong Cooperation at the vegetable and fruit research and development centre on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar. (Xinhua/U Aung)
Chongqing Customs statistics show that imports and exports between China Chongqing and Lancang-Mekong countries totaled 70.08 billion yuan in 2022, including 24.032 billion yuan of exports and 46.047 billion yuan of imports.
Nanning Customs statistics shows that imports and exports between China Guangxi and RCEP member countries totaled 321.43 billion yuan from July 2022 to the end of January 2023, up 0.2 percent on year. Specifically, exports rose by 27.1 percent, with exports to countries such as Thailand doubled during the period.
In 2022, total imports and exports between Yunnan and Lancang-Mekong countries reached 14.8 billion U.S. dollars, with double-digit growth seen in trade volume with Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. Significant progress has been made in connectivity projects such as Cambodia’s Siem Reap International Airport, the China-Laos Mohan-Boten Economic Cooperation Zone and the Myanmar Kunlong Bridge. With the approval of the Ministry of Commerce, the Chinese Secretariat for cross border economic cooperation under LMC has landed in Yunnan.
In addition, the agricultural cooperation among LMC six countries is thriving and has achieved outstanding results. China’s total import of agricultural products from the other five countries increased by 22 percent on year in 2022, according to Liang Jianjun, Deputy Director of the Asia Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China.
-- Opportunities Shared to advance financial coop. and informatization
Information sharing, big data construction, and financial cooperation are also key areas to work on for high-quality development of LMC.
Chongqing took the lead in 2019 in piloting “one order system” for rail-sea intermodal train. By providing financial services such as multimodal transportation insurance, financing and credit enhancement on bill of lading, among others, it achieved smooth operation of cross-border multimodal transportation through the ILSTC with logistics costs cut.
Meanwhile, financial institutions such as Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank, Chongqing Bank, and China Construction Bank Chongqing Branch have collaborated with market entities such as ILSTC operation companies and guarantee institutions to launch special financing products such as Corridor e-financing, Special Freight Loan for ILSTC and Loan for ILSTC.
Statistics show that as of the end of 2022, financial institutions in Chongqing have issued nearly 500 billion yuan in loans to the infrastructure projects and trade logistics companies of ILSTC.
Chongqing is also working on establishing an ILSTC banking service sonsortium for innovating financial service models to inject more financial resources into ILSTC.
In Yunnan, on the other hand, with financial cooperation continuing to deepen, more and more companies and institutions are joining for commercial cooperation under LMC framework. As of June 2022, Yunnan Province has established cross-border clearing and settlement channels with more than 700 overseas banking institutions.
(Contributed by Wang Songtao, Fan Chao, He Fenglun, Tian Shenyoujia, Li Xiaohui, edited by Niu Huizhe with Xinhua Silk Road, niuhuizhe@xinhua.org)
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