SHENZHEN residents will be able to purchase high-quality agricultural produce from 16 Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries in Yantian District before the end of this year, according to an agreement signed between Yantian Container Port Group and the International Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The agricultural cooperation framework between China and CEE countries will allow Yantian Container Port Group to set up an exhibition venue and an e-commerce platform for agricultural produce from CEE countries. The venue will be set up at the Modern Logistics Center within the Yantian Comprehensive Bonded Zone. It will use the present online transaction system and cross-border supply chain system to connect with farms and factories in 16 CEE countries and import their products.

Yantian Container Port Group has set up national pavilions of Slovenia and Spain in its modern logistics center, through cooperation with overseas ports, to display products from the two countries and promote trade with the two countries.

Under the Belt and Road Initiative, the port opened overland railway service in May 2016 to connect Shenzhen with Dostyk of Kazakhstan, Moscow of Russia and Minsk of Belarus. The trains carry products made in Shenzhen and other Pearl River Delta cities, such as mobile phones, printers and household appliances, to consumers in Europe. On their return trips, they ship agricultural produce, equipment and industrial materials from European countries to Shenzhen and other Pearl River Delta cities.

In October 2016, the Shenzhen-Europe express rail link was extended from Minsk to Duisburg, Germany.

The operator, China Brilliant Group, said on the sidelines of the 12th China (Shenzhen) International Logistics and Transportation Fair that October that there was no need to worry about the demand for Chinese products in Europe, and the train would also carry imported products from Europe to Shenzhen.

Compared with air and marine services, overland rail service is competitive both in cost and time.

The logistics cost using rail is one-fifth of that of air service and the time spent is only one-quarter of that of marine service.

Last September, Yantian Container Port opened another overland rail service to link Shenzhen with Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan via Kashgar in Xinjiang.

The train mainly carries electronic products, machinery, household appliances, porcelain, textiles, garments and parts for movable rooms to Kashgar in Xinjiang before heading to Pakistan and Central Asian countries.

(Han Ximin)