Railway Line to Promote `Go West' Strategy

The New Eurasian Continental Bridge is expected to play a more active role in promoting China's "go west'' strategy and enhancing co-operation between Central and East Asia, suggested a economic seminar that opened Thursday in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province.

The two-day seminar "International Symposium on Development and Co-operation of the Eastern and Western Regions along the New Eurasian Continental Bridge,'' has attracted dozens of scholars and officials from China and abroad.

The New Eurasian Continental Bridge, which is being called the new Silk Road, is an 11,000-kilometre railway line from Lianyungang, a port city of East China's Jiangsu Province, to Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Officially starting operation in 1992, the route is believed to be the shortest and most convenient land route between China, Central Asia and Europe.

It is high time to make full use of the New Eurasian Continental Bridge, said Sun Yongfu, director-general of the China International Centre for Economic and Technical Exchange, an institute with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation.

The growing trend of globalization and China's western development initiative have laid a solid foundation for launching development of the bridge, Sun said.

According to Sun, China's expected entry into the World Trade Organization is forcing its inland provinces to seek further access to foreign markets. The railway is seen as a key to promoting the strategic combination of China's capital and foreign investment. It is also expected to increase economic co-operation between the country's east and west.

Besides Lianyungang, other coastal cities such as Qinhuangdao of Hebei, Rizhao and Qingdao of Shandong Province, and Tianjin Municipality, form a group of oriental bridgeheads on the new Silk Road, Sun said.

Qinhuangdao, the country's second largest port, is geologically important to interactions among Northeast Asia, Central Asia and East Asia, he said.

Qinhuangdao Mayor Ning Jinbiao said the city is excited about developing two water and land transportation routes to link the capitals of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is striving to promote multi-dimensional co-operation among the countries along the bridge, said Yannick Glemarec, deputy resident representative of UNDP China.

Last year, UNDP launched the regional Silk Road Area Development Programme, involving China and four Conglomeration of Independent States (CIS) countries. The project aims to operationalize existing international transport and transit agreements and facilitate trade.

UNDP is also trying to assist programme countries in mobilizing further support from other development partners such as the Asian Development Bank.

Since 1994, UNDP has supported a number of initiatives to develop human resources and strengthen information management to promote economic growth in China's western regions along the bridge.

In January 1999, UNDP China launched a national project to help central and provincial authorities develop their capacity to formulate and implement trade-oriented regional development strategies along the bridge, Glemarec said.





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