By Jennifer Chang.     Photo：Johannes Plenio

The China-Laos Railway, which kicked off operation on Dec. 3, 2021, stretches over 1,000 km, linking Kunming, the capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, with the Laotian capital Vientiane.

Gansu's  first international freight train that runs  via the China-Laos Railway departed from Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu province, on April 21, 2022. The freight train was bound for Bangkok, Thailand, from Dunhuang, Gansu Province, in northwestern China, marking China’s Gansu launches first international freight train via China-Laos Railway. The train , loaded with 20 40-foot containers of 530 tons of asbestos.  After packing and sealing at the Dunhuang freight yard until the customer at the destination in Bangkok unpacked and unloaded, the goods did not land,  is scheduled to arrive in Bangkok via Vientiane, Laos in 12 days. According to local authorities, the Dunhuang-Vientiane-Bangkok China-Laos Railway International Corridor is another efficient, economical, safe and convenient international logistics channel between Gansu and Southeast Asian countries. Compared with the 40-day shipping by sea, it can save 28 days from Dunhuang to Bangkok, and the transportation time and cost are greatly reduced.

According to reports, in order to ensure the successful operation of this train, Lanzhou Railway Bureau, together with Gansu Provincial Department of Commerce, Lanzhou Customs, China Railway Container Lanzhou Branch, Lanzhou Freight Center , formulated transportation plans in advance, approved transportation conditions, packaged inspections, Real-time tracking of the whole process of cargo packing, customs declaration and inspection, League of Nations documents and whole-process cargo information. Before the  train was dispatched, Dunhuang Airport Customs took the initiative to contact the exporter, to do the identification and customs clearance supervision of the export asbestos packaging, and to issue the RCEP certificate of origin. This is the first time that Gansu Province directly exported local products  through the China-Laos international railway . On the one hand, it has opened up a new path for Gansu to develop import and export trade with the help of the China-Laos railway, and on the other hand, it has also opened up a new path for expanding cross-border logistics cooperation with RCEP countries. It is of great significance to accelerate the comprehensive economic and trade exchanges and cultural exchanges between Gansu and ASEAN countries, and to form a new pattern of comprehensive opening up.

The China-Laos Railway is the first overseas railway that adopts Chinese standards, is constructed and operated through cooperation between China and Laos, and is connected to the Chinese railway network. Since its opening in December 2021, the China-Laos Railway has injected new impetus into the economic and social development of the West and Southeast Asia, and promoted the “Belt and Road” initiative to discuss, build, share and win together, and build an important transportation infrastructure for a China-ASEAN

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