The "Belt and Road" Czech Station Commercial Service Park is located in Prague's eight districts. Yiwu Business Daily Information Picture

The China-Europe freight train not only makes logistics more convenient, but also promotes the continuous increase in trade and investment between China and Czech Republic. In 2015, China's investment in the Czech Republic was less than US$300 million, but as of 2018, China's investment in the Czech agreement exceeded US$3 billion. In 2018, the trade volume between the two countries exceeded US$28.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 25%.

"Yixinou" (Yiwu-Madrid) is the longest mileage among China-Europe freight trains. Since the launch of this train connecting more than 10 countries and dozens of cities in Asia and Europe, many new business formats, projects and cooperation have been given birth to. The "Belt and Road" Czech station under construction is one of the key projects that have been implemented since the launch of "Yi Xin Europe". Since its launch in 2017, the freight yards and logistics parks of the Czech station of the Belt and Road Initiative have been completed and operated one after another, and the commercial service park will be put into use soon. During a field visit, the reporter found that an open complex with multiple functions has begun to take shape.

"The opening of China-Europe Express has made the value of the Czech Republic as a logistics distribution center more prominent"

At the Czech Republic Lovosicai Station, rows of blue containers with the "China-Europe Express" logo are neatly arranged, and cranes are loading and unloading. The freight yard of the Czech station "Belt and Road" is located here. These containers will take the China-Europe freight train, crossing Poland, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries, and eventually arrive at Yiwu, the world's largest small commodity distribution center.

Jin Gengzhong, deputy head of the Czech station construction group of the "Belt and Road" Czech station, said: "The opening of the China-Europe freight train has made the value of the Czech Republic as a logistics distribution center more prominent. Our goal is to build the Czech station into an open complex with the functions of a service center, trade transit, logistics center, covering logistics, commerce, processing and manufacturing, comprehensive services and other blocks. The freight yard and logistics park, as two advanced projects of the Czech station, were launched first to serve logistics and trade."

The "Belt and Road" Czech station freight yard has a container yard of 21 hectares and a working site of 12 hectares, with an annual design throughput of more than 1,000 rows. Since the China-Europe freight train from Yiwu to Prague was launched, goods can reach Yiwu in as fast as 15 days by railway, while in the past it took at least 40 days to ship by sea.

The China-Europe freight train not only makes logistics more convenient, but also promotes the continuous increase in trade and investment between China and Czech Republic. In 2015, China's investment in the Czech Republic was less than US$300 million, but as of 2018, China's investment in the Czech agreement exceeded US$3 billion. In 2018, the trade volume between the two countries exceeded US$28.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 25%.

Jin Gengzhong said: "With the increase in trade between China and Czech Republic, the Czech station freight yard will also become an important distribution center for Chinese goods in Europe. This is not only of great significance to the Czech Republic, but also brings new business opportunities to many Chinese businessmen in Czech Republic."

"Czech e-commerce can learn more experience from Chinese partners and achieve faster development"

In recent years, with the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce, the Czech Republic's demand for logistics and warehousing has grown rapidly, and the "Belt and Road" Czech station logistics park project has emerged.

The "Belt and Road" Czech Station Logistics Park is located in Pavlov Logistics Park, Central Czech Prefecture, adjacent to Prague International Airport. It has gathered many well-known e-commerce and logistics companies such as Amazon and Disifang. Recently, it has been available for logistics warehouses of about 25,000 cubic meters, and 13,000 cubic meters have been delivered. From the official signing of the contract at the end of June 2018 to the opening of warehouse operations in September of the same year, the construction of the logistics park fully demonstrated "China's speed" and "China's efficiency".

According to Zhang Fengde, head of Europe Huajie Development Co., Ltd., the operator of the Czech station of the "Belt and Road", the logistics park has cooperated with Czech, Zongteng Network and other companies to achieve 11,000 cubic meters of goods entering the warehouse, of which nearly 40% of the products come from Yiwu. The logistics park can provide overseas warehouses, bonded warehouses and logistics distribution services to Chinese cross-border e-commerce companies. In cooperation with the operation of the China-Europe freight train, the Logistics Park provides import and export enterprises with one-stop services such as goods collection, transportation, warehousing, customs clearance, etc., to create a warehousing and logistics center for the distribution of cross-border e-commerce products with Zhejiang and even China to Europe and the gathering of imported European products, and to promote the sustainable development of China-Europe trade.

In the logistics park warehouse, thousands of goods are arranged neatly, and employees pick up, pack, label and deliver them in an orderly manner. Wang Jing, manager of the business development department of Europe Huajie Development Co., Ltd., said: "The logistics park brings domestic e-commerce experience to the Czech Republic. Every item in the warehouse has a QR code, and the location of the goods can be tracked in real time from the moment of placing an order. The logistics park can basically meet the last mile needs of e-commerce and also drive the development of related supporting industries in the Czech Republic."

Sylvina Gilotkova, CEO of the Czech Investment Bureau, said: "European cross-border e-commerce has developed rapidly in recent years and has become an important growth point for Czech-China trade. China has a lot of advanced experience in the field of e-commerce. I believe that with the continuous close trade between the two countries, Czech e-commerce can learn more experience from Chinese partners and achieve faster development."

"With a professional platform like the Czech station, I will have more and more opportunities."

"The business road is open and popular." Jin Gengzhong told reporters that with the advancement of the construction of the "Belt and Road", more and more Czech enterprises have thought of China's business operations in recent years.

In December 2018, European Huajie Development Co., Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement with a real estate company under J&T Group, a well-known Czech enterprise, in Prague. The construction of the "Belt and Road" Czech Station Trade Service Park project was officially launched and planned to be put into use in the second half of this year. In the future, it will use cross-border e-commerce goods circulation as a link to build a gathering center for China-Europe cross-border e-commerce, logistics and trade enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe, provide one-stop comprehensive services for companies that settle in, and expand the two-way import and export trade pattern.

Czech businessman Malik is very interested in the business service park project. Malik's hometown, Yabronez, is a famous glass and jewelry production center in the Czech Republic. He opened a glass shop in the old town of Prague. He said: "I want to sell more products to China. With a professional platform like the Czech Republic, I will have more and more opportunities."

"As one of the most industrialized countries in Europe, the Czech Republic has unique advantages in automobile manufacturing, industrial design and other fields, and can complement many industries and products in China. Trade and cultural exchanges have provided great impetus for the construction of the Czech station in the Belt and Road Initiative, and have also encouraged us to continuously promote and improve this project and help exchanges and cooperation between the two countries." Jin Gengzhong said.

(Original title "The business road opens up with a high popularity" (Construction of the Belt and Road) - Visiting the Czech station project of the Belt and Road", original author Yu Yang. Editor Tong Xiao)