The Consul-General of Finland in Shanghai and his delegation visited Hefei International Inland Port

On the morning of September 25, Ling Yun, deputy secretary of CPC Municipal Committee and mayor of Hefei, met with Finnish Consul General He Langming and his delegation in the Municipal Government Affairs Center. Wang Wensong, member of the Standing Committee of THE CPC Hefei Municipal Committee and Vice Mayor; Chen Qiliang, Secretary and director of the Party Committee of Hefei Foreign Affairs Office; Yong Fengshan, Party Secretary and chairman of hefei I&T Group; Shen Xiaogen, Chairman of Hefei International Inland Port, attended the meeting. Lingyun said, hefei play an important role in the Yangtze river delta integration process, has officially unveiled the free-trade area, Anhui Hefei welcomed new leap-forward development opportunities, is to speed up the construction of international shipping hub, with Finland next broad cooperation space, hope that the two sides in central Europe as a bridge, to bring more business to Finland fertilizer investment and realize the win-win cooperation. He expressed his appreciation for the role of the China-Helsinki freight train in ensuring international transport during the anti-epidemic period. He hoped that the two sides will deepen cooperation in such areas as economic and trade cooperation, environmental governance and railway transport and jointly open a new chapter.

In the afternoon, He Lamming and his delegation visited Hefei International Land Port, the operation platform company of China-Europe freight train service in Hefei. Chairman of Hefei Land Port Company Shen Xiaogen, General Manager Liu Jun and other officials warmly welcomed to him. The two parties of this route cooperation are held a meeting about discussions on the development, business direction, and the cooperation space of the Hefei-Helsinki route to and from Finland.

He spoke highly of the positive role of the Hefei-Helsinki Road in promoting trade, economic development and cultural exchanges. He said that the Finnish government attaches great importance to this route and hopes that more Finnish enterprises can take the China-Europe Hefei Express train to enter the Chinese market and expand business cooperation. The Finnish government and consulate-General of Finland in Shanghai will give full support to the development of this route and the operation of the freight train, so as to maximize the role of the China-Finland railway as a bridge between China and Finland.

Shen expressed warm welcome to Him and his delegation. He pointed out that as the only city in China that has opened china-Europe freight train service with Helsinki of Finland, the smooth operation of the line has greatly promoted the connectivity between Hefei and its surrounding areas and the Nordic countries. Hefei International Land Port attaches great importance to this route and will take multiple measures at the same time to effectively promote route optimization and further improve the stability and timeliness of freight train operation.

Finland is the portal of the Nordic region, Helsinki is Finland's first port, Hefei, Helsinki, Finland, line the opening of the enterprise of Yangtze river delta region in Anhui province in northern Europe market added a strong driving force, as well as the Nordic region of high quality pulp, electronics components, mechanical equipment shipped home to provide a safe and convenient logistics channels. Shen said that in order to further strengthen the link role of the route, he hoped that the Finnish government would provide more support in such aspects as imported goods, overseas transportation costs and promotion of Finnish enterprises in China, explore more cooperation opportunities and find better cooperation models. In the future, Hefei International Land Port will continue to explore and optimize the transportation timeliness and service scope of Helsinki Railway line, enlarge highlights and increase momentum, highlight key points and improve quality and efficiency, and make continuous contributions to promoting trade exchanges between China and Finland and deepening two-way investment between China and Finland.

In the second half of 2018, Hefei International Inland Port launached the Helsinki Railway Line in Finland for the first time in China, which has achieved remarkable results since its launch. At present, it has realized the two-way opening of 88 standard TEU columns, with the accumulated cargo value of 277.03 million US dollars and the accumulated cargo weight of 32,623 tons. As of September 17, 2020, 43 standard columns have been opened. The travelling time has been shortened from 15 days to the current 10 days, and the operation time has been greatly improved. In September 2019 and April 2020, the Finnish Ambassador to China sent letters of thanks to the Hefei City Government twice, pointing out that the opening of the Hefei-Helsinki railway freight train is of great strategic significance for strengthening the economic relations between China and Finland and promoting the economic development of the two countries.