The imports and exports by way of the China-Laos Railway grew 32.9 percent year-on-year in the first four months of 2024 to reach a total of 1.8334 million tons, according to the Kunming Customs in southwest China's Yunnan Province.
The China-Laos Railway, a landmark project of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, began operations in December 2021. The 1,035-kilometer railway connects Kunming, the provincial capital of southwest China’s Yunnan, with the Lao capital Vientiane.
The railway's role in facilitating trade continues to amplify in recent years, with the structure of transported commodities continues to be optimized and with more high-tech products from China being exported aboard.
The increase in imports of agricultural, food and mineral products has driven the rapid growth of freight volume.
The customs clearance time for goods has been reduced from more than 40 hours in the railway's initial period of operation to less than five hours presently.
Yunnan's Mohan port has been China's largest railway port for China's foreign trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for eight consecutive months as of April.
Imports, exports via China-Laos Railway up more than 30 percent in January-April
Leaders of Arab countries called for an early ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and reached consensus on the implementation of the two-state solution at the 33rd Arab League Summit in Manama, the capital of Bahrain.
Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa chaired the summit, which covers regional political, economic, social, cultural, media and security topics
Noting that the summit was held in an extremely complex regional and international environment, Bahrain's King said that Arab states need to have a unified position, adopt the approach to solve the problem through dialogue, and unite together to end the bloodshed of war and achieve a lasting and just peace.
Hamad also supported the full recognition of the State of Palestine and its acceptance as a full member of the United Nations, saying that an independent State of Palestine will be a boon to the entire region.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, said that Israel's ongoing military operations in Gaza have caused huge casualties, and certain Western countries, as Israel's allies, continue to provide political support for this "war."
In the Bahrain Declaration issued after the conclusion of the summit, participating countries agreed to work together to stop Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip and end humanitarian disaster suffered by the Palestinian people.
The declaration also rejected any attempts to forcibly displace the Palestinian people from their land in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and called for a just and comprehensive peace solution.
It supported Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's call to convene an international peace conference and take irreversible steps to implement the two-state solution in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and UN resolutions.
The declaration also said that the Arab foreign ministers will continue to act to urge the international community to quickly recognize the State of Palestine and to work towards its full membership in the United Nations as an independent and fully sovereign state.
Speaking at the press conference after the summit, Gheit said that Arab countries showed "unprecedented" unity at the summit.
"The day before yesterday, foreign ministers or ministers of state of 21 out of 22 Arab countries attended [the diplomatic preparatory meeting for the summit], which hardly happened before. At today's summit, we also saw the broad participation of Arab leaders," said Gheit.
The summit was also attended by representatives of countries and international organizations outside the Arab League.
During the summit, leaders of Arab League member states, including the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the King of Jordan King Abdulla II Ibn Al Hussein, and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman, discussed regional and international hotspot issues.
Arab leaders call for early ceasefire in Gaza
