Int'l community casts vote of confidence in Belt and Road

A Yuxin'ou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) China-Europe freight train leaves the Tuanjie Village Station of southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, March 19, 2021. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

NEW GROWTH DRIVER

Thanks to smoother trade channels under the BRI, emerging industries such as cross-border e-commerce have become bright spots in promoting the economic development of B&R countries.

"E-commerce is becoming a new and prospective economic driver for the Belt and Road development," said Teymur Nadiroghlu, trade representative at the Embassy of the Azerbaijan Republic to China, at the expo. He added that the e-commerce market enables companies from various countries to gain international exposure for their products and services.

Due to the pandemic, many brick-and-mortar stores in Kazakhstan were not able to open. Chinese businessman Yuan Zhaohui has managed to blaze a trail through win-win cooperation with his foreign partners.

His company Silkroad City Shop teamed up with over 2,000 local online influencers in Kazakhstan to promote products including home furnishings and mini electric appliance via livestreaming on social media platforms such as Instagram.

At the same time, he set up his own delivery teams in 18 cities in Kazakhstan and hired local people as couriers, which helped to reduce delivery costs while boosting local employment.

Last year, Silkroad City Shop raked in more than 200 million yuan (about 31.12 million U.S. dollars) in revenue, with sales promoted by livestreaming contributing about one-tenth of the total.

Yuan stressed the role that the China-Europe freight train service played in spurring the growth of his company. "Thanks to the railway cargo service, the transportation cost can get cut in half compared to previous transport channels," he said.

Amid pressure from a supply chain shattered by COVID-19, China-Europe freight trains stand out as a competitive alternative. The number of China-Europe freight trains hit 3,398 in the first quarter of this year, up 75 percent year on year, and the number of monthly train trips has exceeded 1,000 for 11 consecutive months.

The China-Europe cargo service will be improved to spur the development of cross-border e-commerce, according to a three-year action plan released at the expo.

China will set up a green service mechanism for cross-border e-commerce firms via the China Railway Express (Chang'an), with more new routes developed to facilitate international cargo flows, the plan states.