The Hunan Provincial People's Government recently issued a guideline on thoroughly participating in the Belt and Road Initiative and supporting construction of the Huaihua International Land Port.

According to the guideline, the Huaihua International Land Port will be built into a strategic platform for implementing the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) agreement and collaborating with ASEAN countries, an important engine for high-quality development in the Wuling mountainous area, and a landmark project of reform and opening up in inland areas. It will improve Huaihua’s opening-up level, and improve its capabilities on collaborative linkage with the “Strengthening Provincial Capital” Strategy, to build Huaihua into a provincial gateway to participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.

An important opening-up base in inland areas will be built. Huaihua will, based on its international land port, advance the coordinated development with Changsha’s industries and trade and the China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone. The layout of overseas warehouses in ASEAN countries will be rolled out, and the distribution channels will be established. New forms and models of foreign trade, such as cross-border e-commerce, will be formed. As of 2026, Huaihua’s ratio of dependence on foreign trade will exceed 10 percent, in the front rank in the Wuling mountainous areas.

A top-tier international land port in central and western China will be built. Huaihua will give full play to its western railway station as a railway hub, to strengthen infrastructure in the port area, and improve port functions including port service, goods collection and distribution, combined transport modes, intelligent logistics, cold-chain logistics, and bonded logistics. By 2026, the cargo throughput of the Huaihua International Land Port will hit 10 million tons.

Huaihua will be at China’s forefront in terms of the freight train service to ASEAN countries. The rail-sea combined transport from Huaihua to the Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port, Zhanjiang Port, and Guangzhou Port, the cross-border freight train service between Huaihua and Vientiane in Laos, and the Huaihua-ASEAN freight train service, will be improved in both quality and quantity. By 2026, the rail-sea transport and cross-border freight trains will be operated daily, with more than 500 trains being operated annually. The number of containers handled at the Huaihua International Land Port will hit 50,000 TEUs.

The output value of port–based industries will hit 100 billion yuan. The guideline proposed that, Huaihua will leverage the advantages of its land port as a channel and logistics platform, to combine the ASEAN resources, Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan advanced manufacturing, and the markets of the RCEP signatory countries. An industrial system, with modern logistics as the mainstay and supported by commercial service and processing and manufacturing, will be formed.

Beyond that, the guideline also provide policy support in the aspects of fund, project, platform, and financing, to facilitate construction of the Huaihua International Land Port.
 
This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn