Aerial photo taken on April 23, 2022 shows the Belgrade-Novi Sad section of the Belgrade-Budapest railway in Belgrade, Serbia. Photo:Xinhua

China-built railways in different continents bring the same opportunities to people along the rail routes, Wang Wenbin, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told a press conference on Tuesday, noting that with the joint efforts of China and the partner countries, cooperation under the BRI will bear more fruitful results and benefit more people.

Wang's remarks came after Sunday marking the first anniversary of the official opening of a section of the Belgrade-Budapest Railway. Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić attended the celebration event saying that the railroad has become a new business card for Serbia, and the country is benefiting from the results of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The Belgrade-Budapest Railway, which connects capitals of Serbia and Hungary, is a key cooperation project under the BRI and a flagship project of China-Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) cooperation, according to Wang.

The opening of the Belgrade-Novi Sad section of the railway realized the docking of the technical specifications of the railroad between China and the EU. Across its first year of operation, it has shortened the travel time between Belgrade and Novi Sad from more than 90 minutes to around 30 minutes, transporting more than 2.93 million passengers with nearly 300 local technicians trained, setting in motion a new period of high-speed rail in the Balkans. 

After the completion and opening of the Belgrade-Budapest Railway, the travel time via railroad between the two European capitals will be shortened from eight hours to just three hours, which will make an important contribution to improving the level of interconnection between CEEC and helping China and Europe to build the initiative with high-quality development, the spokesperson noted.

In addition to the first anniversary of the opening of the section of the Belgrade-Budapest Railway, the fifth anniversary of the operation of the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway was also celebrated recently. 

The Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway is another transnational railroad built by China for African countries after Tanzania-Zambia Railway, and it is also the first transnational electrified railroad in Africa. Over the past five years, it has carried 530,000 passengers and 7.43 million tons of freight, creating 55,000 local jobs and playing a significant role in promoting local economic development and improving living standards there.

Although the railroads were laid in different continents, they bring the same opportunities for the people along the rail routes, Wang said. This year marks the 10th anniversary of China-proposed BRI, and "we believe that with the joint efforts of China and the co-construction countries, cooperation under the BRI will bear more fruitful results, turning more visions into reality and benefiting more people", Wang noted.

Global Times