On May 11, China's first "South Asia International Freight Train" departed from Lanzhou. Ten days later, this freight train fully loaded with "Made in China" goods will reach Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, after railway and highway transportation. This marks that Lanzhou has taken another important step toward opening-up westward and southward in the construction of the "Belt and Road", following the launch of the "Lanzhou" freight trains bound for Central Asia and Europe.
Since the major strategic concept of the "Belt and Road" was put forward more than two years ago, countries along the route have responded one after another. Last year, China signed memorandums of understanding on co-building the "Belt and Road" with more than 30 countries, and some major frameworks of the "Belt and Road" have begun to take shape, such as the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, the China-Indo-China Peninsula Economic Corridor, the New Eurasian Continental Bridge Economic Corridor, the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor. Some of them have already achieved encouraging results. Take China-Europe freight transport as an example: in the past, freight between China and Europe mainly relied on air transport, sea transport and road transport. Air transport and road transport have high costs, while sea transport takes a long time. With the characteristics of short transportation distance, fast speed and high safety, as well as the advantages of being safe, efficient, green and environmentally friendly, and less affected by the natural environment, China-Europe freight trains have become the backbone of land transportation in international logistics.
International freight transport has a very broad prospect with extremely high cost performance. As we all know, in the past, our logistics trade with South Asia and Southeast Asia was mainly completed by sea. The railway freight train opened this time has opened up a new route for land transportation, and will give full play to the advantages of railway transportation. It is conceivable that in the future, railways will drive economic and trade exchanges, cargo flows, personnel flows, cultural exchanges and technical cooperation between various countries and cities, which will certainly strengthen the "urban" effect among countries. The development pattern of the "Belt and Road" will certainly build a cooperation system for common development of all countries in the world through mutual assistance and mutual progress. With complementary technologies and mutual assistance in resources, railways will also stride forward in development and eventually lay out a global railway transportation network.
Now the "Belt and Road" initiative has become an irresistible trend. The opening of every international railway line brings a new round of development opportunities to countries and regions along the line. All industries should meet this brand-new era with brand-new development concepts and work together to create win-win results. With the cooperation with South Asian railways, China's railways are constantly "upgrading" and increasing speed. We believe that the "South Asia International Freight Train" will surely become a "star product" of international freight transportation under the "Belt and Road" major strategy, and will also drive common economic development to benefit people of all countries.