The opening ceremony of the 7th Silk Road International Exposition and Investment and Trade Forum for Cooperation between East and West China held in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. [Photo/WeChat account of Xiamen Free Trade Zone]
The 7th Silk Road International Exposition and Investment and Trade Forum for Cooperation between East and West China was recently held in Xi'an, Shaanxi province.
The High-quality Development Forum of China Railway Express (Xi'an) Assembly Center also took place alongside this event.
Representatives from cities involved in the China-Europe railway expresses, including Xiamen, Wuhu, Bengbu, Shiyan, Ankang, and Guangzhou, attended the forum to conduct in-depth discussions on strengthening intercity cooperation.
The first international railway express originating from China's free trade zone, the China-Europe (Xiamen) railway express connects Taiwan, Hong Kong, ASEAN, Japan, and South Korea with sea-rail modes to China. This setup has formed a new national logistics channel spanning the Taiwan Strait and crossing the Asian-European continent.
A view of the 1,000th China-Europe (Xiamen) railway express. [Photo/WeChat account of Xiamen Free Trade Zone]
From January to October, 91 trains traveled on the China-Europe (Xiamen) railway expresses, a year-on-year increase of 11 percent. These trains transported 4,936 40-foot containers, a 20.4 percent increase from the previous year.
Since its launch, the service has seen 1,299 trains transport 32.274 billion yuan ($4.51 billion) worth of imports and exports.
The China-Europe (Xiamen) railway expresses will next collaborate with train companies to explore the development of emerging businesses such as cold chain transportation, sea-rail intermodal transportation, cross-border e-commerce, and new energy industry, as well as expand newly added direct routes and increase special trains to improve the level of trade services.