By Lin Xin

(KPL) Mr Wu Mingxiong, a 21-year-old Lao student, his first trip to China was full of surprises. In April this year, Wu Mingxiong took the China-Laos Railway connecting Laos and China, and went to Liuzhou Railway Vocational and Technical College in China to "learn" high-speed rail related technical knowledge.

Wu Mingxiong remembers that he was nervous and excited when he first took the transnational high-speed rail. At the beginning of September, he recalled in an interview, "The high-speed train is very fast. I feel a bit awkward at first, but later I find it is running very steadily." He took high-speed train from Luang Prabang, Laos, and arrived at Mohan Station in Yunnan Province, China, only 2 hours. Then, he transferred from Yunnan to Liuzhou, Guangxi by high-speed train, and the whole journey cost him 800 yuan.

As a high-quality landmark project under "the Belt and Road Initiative", the opening of the China-Laos Railway has greatly promoted the exchanges and economic development of cities along the route in Laos. "In the past, it took a day to take a bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, but now it takes only about 2 hours after the high-speed rail was opened." Being optimistic about the development prospects of high-speed rail , Wu Mingxiong chose to study operation management in China in hope that he can make contributions to his motherland after his study in China.

"Railway transportation is an emerging industry in Laos and the future is promising." Like Wu Mingxiong, Wang Yi, a Lao student, is optimistic about the development of the railway industry. Wang Yi, a 20-year-old girl from Laos, came to China to study with her cousin. She wants to be a "high-speed train attendant"  in the future and dress up beautifully every day to serve the passengers of Laos and China.

At present, a number of "the Belt and Road Initiative" co-construction projects such as Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Railway and Sino-Thai Railway are also progressing in an orderly manner. With the continuous promotion of interconnection between China and ASEAN countries, the demand for compound railway talents is increasing, and the exchanges between China and ASEAN countries are getting closer.

As a vocational college with a railway background in Southwest China, Liuzhou Railway Vocational and Technical College has enrolled international students from Thailand for 4 years and from Laos for 2 years. Of the 45 Thai students who have graduated, 26 were employed by rail transit enterprises in Thailand.

At the same time, Guangxi continued to accelerate the construction of an international gateway for ASEAN and comprehensively improve the access to transportation infrastructure. Guangxi has built a total of 43 and transport corridors (highways and railways) to neighboring provinces and countries, which have been connected with neighboring provinces and countries, and jointly built a land transport corridor interconnecting and reaching the north, south, east and west of the province, initially forming an international corridor with Beibu Gulf Port as the seaport, shared by railways and highways, connecting southwest and northwest, and facing ASEAN countries.

Next, Guangxi will make efforts to establish a "land, sea and air" transport situation. According to the plan, there will be 13 expressways in Guangxi leading to the border ports connected with Vietnam; In terms of sea transport, Guangxi will speed up the construction of berths No.9 and No.10 in Dalanping South Operation Area of Qinzhou Port and Berths No.1 and No.2 in Chisha Operation Area of Fangchenggang Port. In terms of air transport, Guangxi will speed up the construction of a large aviation corridor facing ASEAN countries.

KPL