Industrial park to link Europe and Asia

The Jiaozhou Euro-Asia Economic & Trade Cooperation Industrial Park was recently approved by the Ministry of Commerce to become the first industrial cooperation park joining Europe and Asia under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Under current plans, the park will be located in the Qingdao Bonded Port Jiaozhou Function Area, which boasts capabilities to support multimodal transport logistics, facilitating smooth transportation, e-commerce and high-end manufacturing, as well as research and development facilities.

It is hoped that the park will increase bilateral investment and trade cooperation among countries in Asia and Europe by mobilizing resources domestically and overseas, said Wang Shoupeng, head of Jiaozhou commerce department.

Jiaozhou was a major port on the north end of the ancient Maritime Silk Road.

Today it boasts a well-developed freight transport system with seamless sea and rail links. There are plans for a new airport to be operational by 2025.

Shipping company CRIntermodal has set up one of its 18 logistics terminals in Jiaozhou, which connects with nearly 600 container transaction stations across the country.

Jiaozhou's rail links connect Qingdao with China's western frontier city of Khorgos in Xinjiang, and also reach as far as Amsterdam through the Eurasia Continental Bridge. The bridge has cut transportation time from 45 days to 15 days compared with the sea route.

To make things easier for logistics operators, the Qingdao Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau opened a sub-office in Jiaozhou in October 2013.

(China Daily 04/28/2016 page10)