Yunnan enterprises integrate into Belt and Road
BY MA YILU
Over the past 2,000 years, the spirit of the Silk Road has featured the ideas of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefits. These concepts have been passed down from generation to generation and promoted the progress of human civilization. Today, Belt and Road countries are committed to establishing and strengthening connectivity between Asia, Europe, Africa and across the oceans that connect them.
In recent years, more and more enterprises from southwest Chinas Yunnan Province have actively cooperated with the rest of the world. In particular, economic exchanges between the province and neighbouring countries have become increasingly closer, so much so that integration in terms of both economies and trade have deepened.
In 2017, Yunnan Communications Investment and Construction Group Co., Ltd. (Jiaotou Group) was founded. Ever since then, Jiaotou has endeavoured to propel Yunnan Province from a remote border area to the frontier of Chinas opening up to South and Southeast Asia. The expressway from Boten to Houeixay in Laos is the first major project involved in Jiaotou Groups going out plan. When the project is completed, it will take only 1.5 hours to drive from Houeixay to Boten, and just six hours from Houeixay to Vientiane.
Jiaotou Group has done much else to help the province integrate into the Belt and Road Initiative. On September 28, the Xiaomengyang-Mohan expresswayan important part of the Kunming-Bangkok Highway built by Jiaotou Groupofficially opened to traffic. This marks the completion of the expressway inside China, and further shortens travel times from Yunnan to Thailand via Laos.
Yunnan enterprises are also continuously boosting the construction of local infrastructure and socioeconomic development in Cambodia. The country is an important node on the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport is a major project involved with China-Cambodia Belt and Road cooperation. It is also a core project expressing the friendship between China and Cambodia. In January 2018, we will hold a ground-breaking ceremony for this project, said Liu Yong, president of Yunnan Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd. (Yuntou Group).
In October 2016, Yuntou Group, Jiantou Group and the Yunnan Airport Group formed a consortium for investment and construction and signed The BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer)Agreement for Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport at the offices of Cambodian Prime Minister in Phnom Penh. Under the agreement, the consortium will jointly invest in and build Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport in exchange for a right to operate the facility for 55 years. Upon completion, the airport will become a hub that directly connects Cambodia with Europe and North America. This is a multi-win project. It not only promotes the development of the local economy, but will also promote the further development of tourism in Yunnan, said Liu Yong.
In January 2014, in response to the Belt and Road Initiative, Yunnans Fudian Bank took the lead in setting up the Laos-China Bank so as to promote economic and financial exchanges between China and its neighbouring countries. Since its inception, the Laos-China Bank has brought great convenience to Chinese-funded enterprises operating in Laos, as well as helped local Laotian enterprises.
In the past, according to Yang Min, director of Fudian Bank, RMB remittance and payment businesses in Laos were conducted using USD with a one-thousandth or even one percent handling fee. Now, the Laos-China Bank provides these services with a flat handling fee of ten to 15 dollars. It used to take three days to process RMB remittances in Laos, but today the Laos-China Bank provides real-time RMB services.
The Laos-China Bank is the first joint venture financial institution of its kind approved by the Central Bank of Laos. (Peoples Daily Overseas Edition)
