Chongqing on track to become inland logistics hub

Southwest China’s Chongqing is on the fast track to an inland opening-up high ground as the city steps up efforts for a wider round of opening up.

With an estimated 6.3 percent year-on-year GDP growth in 2019, Chongqing saw its total trade volume grow by about 10 percent annually and actual use of foreign capital exceeded US$10 billion last year.

The city has been working on building itself into an inland hub of international logistics and will further enhance connectivity, Mayor Tang Liangzhi said in his government work report delivered at the opening meeting of the annual session of the municipal people’s congress on Saturday.

A total of 923 trips were made from the land-sea freight route in Chongqing last year, up 51 percent from that of 2018, Tang said in the report.

The route is part of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a trade and logistics passage jointly built by western Chinese provincial regions and Singapore under the framework of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity.

Chongqing is a center of operation for the corridor, with goods from western Chinese provinces and regions shipped to the Beibu Gulf in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region before they are transferred to other parts of the world along sea routes.

The total value of foreign trade goods transported via the route hit US$520 million in 2019. Cars and auto parts, chemical raw materials, food and other goods were shipped to 213 ports in 88 countries and regions.