Agriculture Ministry eyes connecting with China’s railway to expand trade routes
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is planning to connect the Northern railway with China’s Yuxi–Mohan railway to expand trade routes to China, Asia and Europe.
“We are working to connect the northern train route at Chiangkhong Customs Checkpoint in Chiang Rai province with the Yuxi–Mohan railway, also known as the Yumo railway,” Alongkorn Polabutr, adviser to the agriculture minister on Thursday. “The project will open up new trade routes in several regions including all provinces of China, East and Central Asia, the Middle East, Russia and Europe.”
The Yumo railway is a railway under construction in Yunnan Province of southwest China. The line is slated to run 503.9 km. from Yuxi in central Yunnan to Mohan, a town in Mengla County on the border with Laos in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture of southern Yunnan. Once connected to the railway to be built in Laos, the Yumo railway would become part of the Kunming-Singapore railway and carry traffic across the Greater Mekong Subregion.
The ministry also planned to use the Khorgos Gateway Dryport in Kazakhstan as a distribution hub for agricultural and food products from Thailand, as well as implementing low-cost air cargo system at international airports in Northern provinces to distribute Thai products to global markets.
“The railway connection project, along with the Northern Thailand Food Valley programme, are part of the initiative to promote agriculture, industry and export in the Northern region given by Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Chalermchai Sri-on,” added Alongkorn.
