(Character of the Two Sessions) Li Yanqiang, deputy to the National People's Congress: Let the new land-sea corridor in the west become an "economic artery" along the line
China News Service, Nanning, March 2, Question: Li Yanqiang, deputy to the National People's Congress: Let the new western land-sea corridor become the "economic artery" along the line
Reporter Yang Chen
"In recent years, I have participated in and witnessed the evolution and development of the new western land-sea channel. My biggest wish is to hope that the channel will become smooth, strong, and solid, and truly become an economic artery that connects the north and the south, connects the land and the sea, and coordinates along the route." Li Yanqiang, deputy to the National People's Congress, secretary of the party committee and chairman of Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group Co., Ltd., said in an interview with a reporter from Chinanews.com on the eve of the National Two Sessions.
Since 1998, Li Yanqiang has served the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone. He has served as the executive deputy director of the Beibu Gulf Office of Guangxi and the chief officer of Beihai and Fangchenggang. He has forged an indissoluble bond with the most convenient sea outlet in Southwest China.
"Although Beibu Gulf Port is the nearest sea port for goods from southwest and central and southern China to ASEAN, before 2017, due to insufficient port capacity and relatively high logistics costs, most of the goods in the west did not go here." Li Yanqiang said, The germination of the channel began when Beibu Gulf Port was building a container trunk port, but suffered from the dilemma of no supply of goods.
The picture shows Li Yanqiang, deputy to the National People's Congress, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group Co., Ltd.
Photo by Edison Chen
In order to further attract western goods to go to Beibu Gulf port, in April 2017, Chongqing, Guangxi and Singapore jointly promoted the opening of the "Chongqing-Guangxi-Xinjiang" train.
Subsequently, the governments of Chongqing, Guangxi, Guizhou and Gansu signed contracts to jointly build the China-Singapore Interconnection Southbound Corridor, thus forming a system of "one trunk and multiple branches".
As more and more goods from the west converge at Beibu Gulf Port, the international influence of the southbound channel has been further enhanced, and the channel has been renamed the "New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor"; by August 2019, the "Master Plan for the New Western Land-Sea Corridor" Officially issued, the new international land-sea trade channel has been upgraded again.
This new land-sea trade channel, co-created by the western provinces of China and Singapore, takes Chongqing as the operation center and utilizes railways, seas, roads and other transportation methods to connect the western provinces of China southwards through the Beibu Gulf of Guangxi to the rest of the world.
The Beibu Gulf Port, which consists of Fangcheng Port, Qinzhou Port and Beihai Port, has gradually entered the ranks of international gateway ports, becoming a strategic fulcrum for the development of western and central and southern China, connecting the dual markets of China and ASEAN.
Through the joint efforts of the provinces and municipalities along the route, today's new western land-sea channel is not just a simple logistics channel, but the main artery of the western economy.
On April 28, 2021, the total number of sea-rail intermodal trains in the new channel exceeded 10,000, which took four years less than the 10,000 trains of China-Europe trains.
The train has covered 92 stations in 47 cities in 13 provinces in China, and 12 dry ports have been constructed and operated along the channel.
"The channel promotes the logistics, and the logistics drives the trade, and the trade prospers the industry, and the industry drives the economy." Li Yanqiang said.
Taking Chongqing as an example, in 2021, 1,829 trains will be launched in the direction of Chongqing, and the import and export to ASEAN will achieve 129.23 billion yuan, which will drive the development of local automobile and motorcycle, light industry, food and other industries.
In Li Yanqiang's view, the new western land-sea channel connects the western China and ASEAN markets, and a situation has been formed that will drive trade increments, prosper industries and develop the economy.
"It is precisely because of the rapid development of the new channel that a large number of port-facing industrial projects such as Guangxi Iron and Steel, China Aluminum and Huayi have settled in Beibu Gulf Port, which has promoted regional economic development."
2022 marks the 5th anniversary of the opening of the new western land-sea channel sea-rail intermodal transport.
How will the new western land-sea passage that has experienced "the past and present" become smoother, stronger and more solid in the future?
Li Yanqiang believes that, first of all, we must make a fuss about the construction of infrastructure, so as to make the main channel of the east, middle and west lines leading to the Beibu Gulf in the inland area fully unblocked as soon as possible, and further improve the service capacity of coastal ports.
"We must adhere to the concept of 'land-sea coordination and two-way mutual assistance', promote the construction of the Pinglu Canal and the Huangtong-Baise Railway, and vigorously promote the 'river-sea' combined transport."
The picture shows the Beibu Gulf Port Automated Container Terminal under construction.
Photo courtesy of Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group Co., Ltd.
Secondly, to strengthen the new channel, we should actively connect with the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, strengthen the synergy with the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle and the Hainan Free Trade Port, deepen cooperation with neighboring provinces such as Hunan, Yunnan and Guizhou, and vigorously promote the transportation, logistics, Deep integration of commerce and industry.
As a major corridor connecting the Silk Road Economic Belt in the north and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in the south, the new land-sea corridor in the west will give full play to its radiating and leading role, effectively promoting the joint development, sharing and win-win results of China-ASEAN and countries along the "Belt and Road". , and achieve benefits for all parties in the joint construction.
Li Yanqiang suggested that in the future, in the construction of the new channel, we should seize the opportunity of RCEP, continuously expand the depth and breadth of China-ASEAN open cooperation, so that the new channel's major pulling effect on the economy should be further rejuvenated, and the industry chain and supply chain should be reshaped by gathering momentum.
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