China Railway Kunming Group Co., Ltd. announced on Sunday the extension of an international train service on a section of the China-Laos Railway, with more stations added to provide increased travel solutions for international passengers.
In addition to the train service linking the terminal stations of Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, and the Laotian capital Vientiane, there is also a shuttle train service section on the China-Laos Railway connecting Xishuangbanna of Yunnan with Luang Prabang in Laos.
From Sunday, this shuttle-service section will offer a 94-kilomenter extension to Pu'er in Yunnan, a city famous for its tea and coffee production.
The extension also features a stop at Nateuy of Laos.
As of Sunday, the section of Xishuangbanna-Luang Prabang international passenger train service on the China-Laos Railway had transported a total of 220,000 passengers, including 81,000 cross-border passengers, since its launch a year ago.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday called for greater efforts to promote consumption, expand domestic demand and boost the domestic economy, to further unleash the vitality and potential of China's enormous market.
Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the statement during an inspection tour in Beijing.
During the inspection at a local exhibition promoting domestic sales of foreign trade firms at a downtown mall, Li pointed out that the current external environment has undergone profound changes, adversely impacting China's foreign trade. He called for proactive actions of all to overcome difficulties, actively explore diversified markets, innovate trade channels and methods, and strive to ensure stable performance of foreign trade.
He urged efforts to effectively utilize existing policies to promote domestic sales of foreign trade goods, develop trade brands of foreign trade enterprises, establish a mechanism that allows direct reach of policies to enterprises, and steadily promote integrated development of domestic and foreign trade.
The premier stressed further actions to boost consumption, calling for increased efforts in stabilizing employment, promoting income growth, and strengthening guarantees, to further enhance the people's spending power and consumption willingness, and nurture a growing market for domestic demand.
Li advocated promotion of healthy competition, encouraging enterprises to develop differentiated advantages, enhance their competitiveness through continuous innovation in products and services, and create new demand through high-quality supply.
While visiting a real estate project site, the premier learned about local efforts to convert inventory housing into talent apartments. Li said that the purchase of existing commercial housing for use as affordable housing is a crucial step in stabilizing the real estate market and improving people's livelihoods, urging efforts to support such initiatives.
It is essential to implement all relevant policies, grant urban governments greater power to determine the types of entities that can make purchases, the prices of such properties, and the purposes for which they will be used, and introduce new support measures on the basis of research in a timely manner, Li said.
The premier urged in-depth promotion of urban renewal, calling for intensified efforts to redevelop old villages surrounded by urban areas and renovate old and dilapidated houses, make a good use of existing resources and optimize incremental resources.
It is essential to focus on the concerns of new urban residents and those with housing difficulties, with adjustment and improvement of the relevant policies to support residents in buying their first home or improving their housing situation, said the premier.
Currently and in the foreseeable future, there is still substantial development space in China's real estate market, he said, noting that the housing market potential should be further unleashed to actively promote the construction of quality homes, accelerate the formation of a new model for real estate development, and facilitate steady and healthy development of the real estate market.
Chinese premier urges efforts to boost consumption