Chongqing- The inaugural ceremony of the China-Laos Railway (Dazhou-Vientiane) international freight train of the New International Land-sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) was held in Dazhou City, Sichuan Province, on November 16. 

Dazhou is located in the northwest of Sichuan Province, and it is an important industrial city and a commercial center of the Qin-Ba area. It enjoys the reputation of "the Bright Pearl of East Sichuan."

With the frequency of once a month so far, the train started from Dazhou, heading to Luang Prabang and Vientiane, Laos via Chongqing and Yunnan, shortening the freight time by 3-4 days and radiating to Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, and other countries and regions.

Assembly of goods from eastern Sichuan-Chongqing in Dazhou

Enjoying access to a good supply foundation, the China-Laos Railway (Dazhou-Vientiane) facilitates the effective assembly of goods from the eastern Sichuan-Chongqing in Dazhou.

For example, many goods from Dazhou and its surrounding areas have been sent to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Middle East for a long time, including new materials and electronic products in Dazhou, ammonium chloride and copper products in Wanzhou, and communication equipment in Kaizhou.

The potassium dihydrogen phosphate produced by Wengfu Chemical, a local enterprise in Dazhou, is favored by Thailand, Vietnam, and other Southeast Asian regions, with an annual shipment of more than 10,000 tons.

Meanwhile, Laos needs about 400,000 tons of ammonium sulfate as raw material for mining rare earth ores every year, which can guide buyers to Dazhou to purchase the product. 

According to the Dazhou Port and Logistics Office, the opening of the train improves the resilience of the industrial and supply chain. It will build a great corridor that connects Dazhou and Vientiane directly to Southeast Asia international logistics, providing new opportunities for cooperation between Wanzhou, Dazhou, Kaizhou, and northeast Sichuan with ASEAN and other regions. 

An important part of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle 

As an important step of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle and ILSTC, this train will promote the northwest inland and ASEAN countries to deepen regional cooperation and enhance the integration and development of cross-regional logistics, trade, and industry.

Over the past two years, Sichuan and Chongqing have attempted to better build the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, a new economic growth zone in western China.

According to the national plan, Sichuan and Chongqing will work together to build an integrated, comprehensive transportation system in Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle and coordinate medium- and special long-term plans for railways, highways, water transportation, civil aviation, and postal services.

Currently, Chongqing has three high-speed railways under construction, building a modern comprehensive transportation hub cluster with Chengdu, Chongqing, and Guiyang as the main hubs. Once completed, they will upgrade the city's transportation service level and drive Western China's high-speed rail construction in full swing. 

(Tan Jingyue, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)