This year marks the eighth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past eight years, as a priority area of Belt and Road cooperation, China has made solid progress in infrastructure connectivity with countries involved in the Belt and Road initiative, making all countries feel a real sense of gain.

The automated container terminal of Berth no. 7 and No. 8 in the South Operation Area of Dalianping Port Area of Qinzhou Port in Guangxi Beibu Gulf is the first automated container terminal in the world with u-shaped process layout and the first automated container terminal of sea-rail combined transportation in China. At present, the wharf hydraulic engineering transformation, yard transformation and house construction projects have come to an end, and the equipment part is entering the debugging stage. Guo Zhengsheng, assistant to general Manager of Beibu Gulf Port Co., Ltd. Technology Department, introduced: "The main equipment, 5 automatic double trolley quays, 6 rail cranes and 15 IGVs, have all arrived at their posts, and have all been enabled for power commissioning. Next, we will complete the shipment and installation of the remaining equipment, as well as the debugging of the whole software and hardware. We expect to complete the debugging of the whole project equipment by the end of this year."

The New Western Land-Sea Corridor is a new land-sea trade corridor jointly built by China's western provinces and Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries. This corridor connects with the China-Europe freight trains running between Asia and Europe, making positive contributions to high-quality belt and Road cooperation. Qinzhou is the core port city of Beibu Gulf in Guangxi and an important node connecting the new western land-sea passage by land and sea. In order to ensure fast customs clearance of goods in the new western land-sea corridor and efficient operation of the sea-rail combined transport system, Qinzhou Port Customs and port administration departments of Guangxi have introduced a series of reform measures to continuously improve the facilitation of manifest transmission. China (guangxi) free trade area of the qinzhou port area management committee on trade and logistics development board assistant director Liang Tong is introduced: "qinzhou port station operation of iron sea transport trains every day now reached more than 10 column, at the same time, the qinzhou port container liner routes reached 48, southeast Asia, northeast Asia's main port and covers all the basic domestic port."

Since 2019, when China promoted the construction of a new land-sea corridor in the western part of the country, various tasks have been carried out in an orderly manner. In particular, since 2020, local governments and enterprises along the route have overcome the adverse impact of COVID-19 and maintained a strong momentum of growth in the corridor construction. In 2020, a total of 4,607 rail-sea combined freight trains ran along the Beibu Gulf, up 105 percent year on year. China and Vietnam made 1,264 cross-border freight trains, up 23.2 percent year on year. The container throughput of Beibu Gulf Port reached 5.05 million TEUS, up 32.2% year on year. Yangpu Port completed a container throughput of 1.02 million TEUS, up 43.9% year on year.

While the construction of new land and sea routes in the western region has been actively promoted, the number of China-Europe freight trains has been increasing in recent years, and the role of strategic routes has become more prominent. Statistics show that china-Europe express trains have run over 40,000 trains, connected 73 routes and reached more than 160 cities in 23 European countries, carrying more than 50,000 types of goods. This has ensured the stability and smooth flow of the international industrial and supply chains, promoted common development in the region, and added more momentum to belt and Road cooperation. Rashid Alimov, former SECRETARY-GENERAL of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said, "The China-Europe train service, which runs through Central Asia and Russia to Rotterdam, is a very inclusive and open project. The safety, reliability and efficient transport capacity of china-Europe freight trains have served as a lifesaver for the economies of countries along the routes during the pandemic, as evidenced by relevant figures. In 2020, which was the most difficult year for us, nearly 12,500 china-Europe freight trains ran. Compared with the previous year, the total volume of cargo transportation increased by 56 percent, which is a big improvement."

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, China-Europe freight trains have also opened up the "passage for life", delivering a total of 12.8 million pieces of anti-epidemic supplies, or 99,000 tons, to European countries, making a positive contribution to international anti-epidemic cooperation.

Over the past eight years, belt and Road connectivity has continued to improve. At present, the framework of "six corridors, six roads, multiple countries and multiple ports" has basically taken shape, and a large number of cooperation projects have taken root. Infrastructure connectivity has been deepened. Positive progress has been made in the china-Laos Railway, china-Thailand Railway, Budapest-Belgrade Railway and Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway. Gwadar port, Hambantota Port and other cooperative ports have been well built and operated. Steady progress has been made in the construction of the China-Russia eastern natural gas pipeline.

Connectivity also gives people in belt and Road countries a real sense of participation and gain. In Kenya, the Mombasa-Nairobi railway, built by a Chinese company, linking the capital Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa, has been hailed as the country's "project of the century". The completion and opening of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway has created nearly 50,000 jobs and boosted the local economy by 1.5 percentage points. "In Africa, the biggest challenge affecting trade is transportation," said Mwincha, former au Vice Chairman and chairman of the AU's Belt and Road Initiative Committee. Shipping costs can be as high as 40% of the product. If transport costs fall to less than 10 percent, the impact on boosting African trade will be felt. It is now possible to transport goods from China to Europe by land and rail, thus boosting the economies of countries along the route. And Africa wants to be a part of that."