The first freight train of the China-Laos Railway carrying 736 tons of natural rubber arrived at Wangjiaying Railway Station in Kunming, capital of South China's Yunnan province, at 10 am on December 6.
Yunnan State Farms Group held a handover ceremony for the arrival of the goods from Vientiane, Laos at the railway station.
In his speech at the handover ceremony, Zhou Jianguo, general manager of Yunnan State Farms Group, said the arrival of Laotian goods represents the active efforts made by his firm to take part in the building of the Belt and Road initiative (BRI), adhere to national opening-up policies, follow the development strategy of enlarging its overseas presence, and consolidate its cooperation with Laos in the planting and processing of natural rubber over the past years.
Yang Juling, head of the Kunming Branch of China Railway Container Transport Corp (CRCT), noted that the opening of the China-Laos Railway and the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will further advance connectivity between China and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), promote bilateral trade and create a new international land passage for the flow of goods between both sides.
Yang added that the inauguration of the China-Laos Railway will further shorten the time for cargo transportation between both countries and boost the development of bilateral trade, as well as the economic growth of all BRI partner countries.
Yunnan State Farms Group founded Laos Yunnan Rubber Co., Ltd. in Laos and invested over 60 million yuan ($ 9.4 million) to build a research institute for the rubber industry with the Laotian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in 2006. This bilateral cooperation is committed to better aligning with the BRI, strengthening cooperation between Yunnan and South Asia and Southeast Asia, promoting the development of the Laotian rubber industry with broad participation of local people, advancing Laotian social and economic growth and helping Laotian people shake off poverty.
So far, Laos Yunnan Rubber Corporation has four subsidiary companies and three rubber processing plants, as well as set up 21 rubber plantation demonstration bases, employed nearly 200 people from China and other countries, and helped around 20,000 Laotian people find employment in relevant sectors.
Meanwhile, Yunnan State Farms Group has made intensified efforts to promote agricultural production activities connected with crops, fruits, vegetables and animal breeding by fully leveraging the markets and resources in both countries, invested 24.46 million yuan to help Laos further improve its public infrastructure, held over 60 rounds of relief donation for Laos and raised 500,000 yuan to improve employment access, personal income and livelihoods of Laotian people, demonstrating the fulfillment of political and social responsibility of a state-owned enterprise and winning high acclaim from the Laotian people.
According to Yunnan State Farms Group, it will transport 13,000 tons of natural rubber from Laos via the China-Laos Railway to Kunming in the following weeks before delivering the goods to its downstream clients.
