The signing ceremony of the tripartite cooperation agreement on Asia-Europe freight train transport was held at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization International Trade Center in Qingdao on Feb 28.

The Customer Service Center for Asia-Europe Freight Train Transport was inaugurated on the same day.

The cooperation agreement was signed by three transport and logistics companies from Qingdao and Jinan of Shandong province and Russia. They will further enrich the supporting services of the multimodal transportation center in the SCO demonstration zone and provide one-stop professional services covering China-Russia railway transportation.

The tripartite cooperation agreement on Asia-Europe freight train transport is signed on Feb 28. [Photo/Dazhong News]

The cooperation will enhance the attractiveness and competitiveness of China-Russia-Europe container transport, enhance the role of the overland passage of China-Europe freight trains in the SCO demonstration zone, and provide a solid guarantee for local economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, Qingdao officials said. 

According to the agreement, the parties will establish a cooperation mechanism to give full play to the transit potential of the Russian railway's Eurasian Land Bridge and the potential of the Chinese railway's assembly and allocation in East Asia, so as to form a large-scale and efficient assembly center and promote high-quality development of the East-West trade and transportation corridor.

The Customer Service Center for Asia-Europe Freight Train Transport will display and promote the railway transportation system between China and Europe and between Russia and China. It will provide professional services covering domestic and foreign railway transportation, and train assembly and deployment services.

As the global economy and supply chains have been hardly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the China-Europe freight train service in the SCO demonstration zone witnessed continuous growth in 2021, with the number of trips and shipments reaching a record high. The China-Russia freight trains accounted for nearly 30 percent of the total in operation.

The SCO demonstration zone has opened China's first cold chain vegetable train to Moscow, Russia, which will further unblock the international cold chain logistics channel.