STORY: 5 years on, SCO demonstration area offers opportunities for win-win cooperation
DATELINE: July 2, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:57
LOCATION: QINGDAO, China
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the demonstration area
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Russian): SERGEY MANASSARIAN, Armenian ambassador to China
3. various of freight trains
4. various of trading platforms
5. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): LIU YU, Alibaba Group

STORYLINE:

Five years on, the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in the eastern Chinese coastal city of Qingdao has grown into a new platform for international cooperation.
   
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) demonstration area has sped up building a massive logistics passage to facilitate multilateral economic and trade cooperation and safeguard the stability of the industrial and supply chains in the region.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Russian): SERGEY MANASSARIAN, Armenian ambassador to China
"We very much look forward to concrete cooperation outcomes, especially as strengthening the logistics chain has become crucial in the current backdrop."

Apart from sea, air, and road transport, the area operates 31 international freight train routes, reaching 54 cities in 23 countries, including the SCO countries and those along the Belt and Road.

The demonstration area has set up a comprehensive platform to offer one-stop services covering trade, customs clearance, logistics, and finance. Nearly 5,000 enterprises, 731 suppliers, and 191 purchasers have registered on the platform.

It has also introduced or nurtured 10 trading platforms to link more than 2,000 trading companies.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): LIU YU, Alibaba Group
"We aim to establish industrial connectivity with SCO member states, promote digitalization and provide new foreign trade momentum for small and medium-sized enterprises, and comprehensively achieve high-quality development."

Thanks to the spate of measures, the area's trade with SCO countries surged to 8.1 billion yuan (about 1.1 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022 from 850 million yuan (about 117 million dollars) in 2019.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Qingdao, China.
(XHTV)