New Highway Drives More Trade between China and Southeast Asia
17/08/2016
The trade corridor will bring new opportunities for cooperation between ASEAN and inland Chinese regions. Image: zgsyb.com
The highway corridor consists of three routes. Image: BWPI
A highway corridor linking Chongqing Municipality and Southeast Asia, to be completed this year, is expected to drive more trade between cities in southwest China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The corridor consists of three routes. A route that opened in April runs from Chongqing through Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to Hanoi, Vietnam. Another, stretching from Chongqing through the border crossing at Mohan, Yunnan to Vientiane, Laos, will open by September. The third route that goes from Chongqing to Yangon, Myanmar will also open in this year.
Mechanical equipment, main building materials and auto parts will be transported to Southeast Asia, at the same time, fruit, snacks and timber will be traded to China. It takes 40 hours to complete the 1,400-kilometer trip from Chongqing to Hanoi.
In three to five years, the highway trade corridor will become a transportation artery linking central China to ASEAN, according to Li Muyuan, an expert with the China Communications and Transportation Association.
The trade corridor will bring new opportunities for cooperation between ASEAN and inland Chinese regions, said Allan Yang, director of the Laos-China Association for Promotion of Economy and Trade.
Chongqing authorities expect that by 2020, regular truck services along the three routes will transport 20 billion yuan of cargo a year.
