A special train carrying agricultural products from a Shanghai Cooperation Organization demonstration base departed from Xi’an, Shaanxi province, this week. It will exit through the Khorgos Port in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and is expected to arrive in Russia in over 10 days.

The train consists of 55 containers, weighing a total of 1,210 metric tons and valued at $2.09 million. This marks the first train from the Yangling Agricultural Hi-tech Industries Demonstration Zone in Shaanxi, aiming to foster agricultural trade cooperation with member countries of SCO.

Wang Bin, deputy general manager of Yangling Modern Agriculture International Cooperation Co, said, “This signifies a promising start for regular agricultural trade between the Yangling demonstration zone and Russia, and represents another significant step in deepening economic cooperation with SCO countries.”

He added that high-quality agricultural products from Yangling now have more access to the international markets, enabling them to meet the increasingly diverse demands of consumers.

This train line is also poised to attract more premium agricultural products from SCO countries into the Chinese market, promoting diversified agricultural trade for mutual benefits, Wang said.

Initiated in 2019, the SCO base, which is part of the Yangling demonstration zone, has become a crucial platform for agricultural collaboration among nations and regions that are involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

In recent years, Yangling has successfully shipped 420 containers of goods from Xi’an to Tashkent, Uzbekistan and Khorgos via the China-Europe Railway Express and the China-Central Asia Railway Express.

These shipments involve various sectors, including agricultural products, agricultural equipment, pre-packaged agricultural foods and small commodities, with a total import and export trade volume of 120 million yuan ($16.5 million).

To meet the needs of SCO countries, Yangling has established over 10 overseas agricultural technology demonstration parks in countries such as Kazakhstan. They have conducted comparative trials of 115 superior crop varieties and integrated efficient cultivation techniques for demonstration.

Thanks to the SCO agricultural base, Yangling achieved a total import and export trade volume of more than 1 billion yuan last year, with an average annual growth rate exceeding 20 percent over the past five years.

Shi Gaoling, secretary of the Party Working Committee of Yangling Agricultural Hi-tech Industries Demonstration Zone, said, “In the future, Yangling will fully leverage the functions of its free trade zone and comprehensive bonded zone.

“We will continuously promote institutional and management innovations in the agricultural sector, establishing an open national agricultural and industrial cooperation experimental zone. We will also explore agricultural standardization exchanges and cooperation among SCO countries, creating a green channel for international trade of agricultural products,” Shi said.