New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor yields fruitful results in 2022: report

Photo taken on May 18, 2023 shows the release of the 2022 Development Index of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a trade and logistics passage jointly built by provincial-level regions in western China and ASEAN members, yielded fruitful results in 2022, said an index report revealed at the opening ceremony of the fifth Western China International Fair for Investment and Trade, which kicked off on Thursday in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

According to the report, the Development Index of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor stood at 135.2 points in 2022, up 10.3 percent and 32.5 percent compared to that of 2021 and that of 2020, respectively, implying that the corridor saw sound strategy implementation and an increasing operational efficiency.

Photo taken on May 18, 2023 shows the release of the 2022 Development Index of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

The index monitors changes and impacts in corridor infrastructure construction, industrial agglomeration and upgrading, foreign trade, logistics, and industrial competitiveness.

With 2019 as a base period, it contains three major sub-indexes of development scale, development quality and competitiveness, to show a full picture of the development of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, according to Liu Wei, director of the Coordination Center for Logistics and Operation of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.

The sub-index of development scale of 2022 surged 17.6 points to 156.8 points, while the sub-index of development quality dipped 1.9 points to 111.3 points, indicating that the corridor construction and logistics have run well and the trade structure of regions along the corridor has been optimized.

Notably, the sub-index of competitiveness increased by 14.8 points to 125.6 points, thanks to the continuous efforts in improving infrastructure and developing new logistics methods.

The corridor has brought larger market to western China, with the imports and exports volume between the areas along the corridor and the ASEAN countries rising from 691.6 billion yuan in 2019 to 881.7 billion yuan in 2022.

The index is jointly compiled by the Chongqing Port and Logistics Office, the Development and Reform Commission of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and relevant departments from other provinces in western China, and implemented by the Coordination Center for Logistics and Operation of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the New Land-Sea Corridor Operation Co., Ltd, said Liu.