The Launch of China-Laos Freight Train (Panzhihua) and Promotion of Major Water Conservancy and Hydropower Projects in Sichuan kick off on December 29. Huang Qiang, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and Governor of the People's Government of Sichuan Province, attended and announced the launch of the China-Laos freight train (Panzhihua) and the Yalong River Lianghekou Hybrid Pumped-storage Power Station Project.

The Launch of China-Laos Freight Train (Panzhihua) was held at Panzhihua Railway Station. It is the first international through freight train to export goods from Sichuan to ASEAN countries after the full operation of the new Chengdu-Kunming Railway, with a total of 22 compartments and 24 containers and a goods value of about 10 million yuan.

In his speech, Huang Qiang, on behalf of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and the People's Government of Sichuan Province, congratulated the successful opening of China-Laos freight train (Panzhihua). He said that half a century ago, aiming to implement the far-sighted and wise decisions of the first-generation Party and state leaders such as Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping, heroic builders overcame countless difficulties and obstacles to build the old Chengdu-Kunming Railway with their hands and even their lives, opening up the strategic channel between China's north and south. Now the new Chengdu-Kunming Railway has been fully opened as the shortest land-bridge main channel connecting Sichuan to the China-Laos Railway and facing the ASEAN region. The China-Laos Railway is a landmark project in the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, and ASEAN is an important growth pole for Sichuan's foreign trade. The launch ceremony represents an effort to thoroughly implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress, the Central Economic Work Conference, and General Secretary Xi Jinping's speech at the opening ceremony of the China-Laos Railway, as well as to implement the plans made at the Economic Work Conference of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee, in a bid to bring more opportunities and a good start to future economic work. In line with the "Three-Line Spirit", with a focus on China and Laos, ASEAN, Europe and Asia, we need to deepen international cooperation on industrial and supply chains, improve the service quality, operation efficiency, and economic value of China-Laos freight trains, stimulate trade growth, expand the space for opening-up and cooperation, promote high-quality development through high-level opening-up, and accelerate the construction of a strategic highland for inland opening-up.

The Promotion of Major Water Conservancy and Hydropower Projects in Sichuan has a main venue at the construction site of the "Water Resource Allocation + Pumped Storage + New Energy Development" Three-in-one Project in Boxi Village, Pingdi Town, Panzhihua, and a branch venue at Lianghekou Hydropower Station, Yajiang County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The Panzhihua Three-in-one Project includes a water resource allocation project with an annual water diversion of 127 million m3, a 3 GW pumped-storage power station project, and a 3 GW PV and wind power development project. The Lianghekou Hybrid Pumped-storage Power Station Project is Sichuan's first pumped-storage power station project, with a total installed capacity of 4.2 GW. It is the world's largest hybrid pumped-storage power station project, China's first hybrid pumped-storage power station project in a large-scale clean energy base, and China's highest-altitude large-scale pumped-storage power station project. These two projects will facilitate the power supply under extreme weather in Sichuan and irrigation and water supply in southwest Sichuan, channeling energy and establishing new advantages for building a higher-level "granary of heaven" in the new era and promoting high-quality development.

Vice Governor Yang Xingping presided over the Launch of China-Laos Freight Train (Panzhihua), and Vice Governor Hu Yun spoke at the Promotion of Major Water Conservancy and Hydropower Projects in Sichuan. Officials from relevant departments directly under the provincial government, Panzhihua, Ganzi, related centrally-administrated state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and provincial SOEs attended relevant activities respectively.