CRI听力:Xi Jinping Attends Opening Ceremony of Third Silk Road Forum

During his time in Warsaw, President Xi Jinping attended the opening of this year's Silk Road Forum.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Xi Jinping has issued a call for increased cooperation through the "Belt and Road" initiative.

"We should further connect the '16+1' cooperation platform and the development of the 'Belt and Road' initiative on the present basis, making '16+1' the new growth pole of China-Europe cooperation."

Xi Jinping says he's going to push for more contacts among local governments, businesses and non-government institutions, as well as more exchanges among think tanks.

As part of his time in Poland, Xi Jinping and his Polish counterpart also attended a ceremony marking the first-ever arrival of the China-Europe Block Train from Chengdu to Warsaw.

The timing is fitting, as Poland is hoping to play a significant role as a gateway for Chinese exports into Europe.

Head of the National Development and Reform Commission, Xu Shaoshi, says the massive train link will create stronger trade ties between the two sides.

"Poland is a gateway to Europe through which trains from China are entering. Thanks to a regular train service, Polish-Chinese cooperation is more dynamic and can contribute to the development of a strategic partnership. We are ready to promote this cooperation together. We encourage Poland to increase the export of goods to China using the China Railway Express."

The China-Europe Block Train was officially launched on June 8th.

Freight trains along the line take around 2-weeks to get from China to Poland, which is twice as fast as sea transport, and much cheaper than air freight.

Its establishment is also an opportunity for Poland to increase its exports to China, which came in at around 2-billion US dollars last year.

Overall trade volume between China and Poland reached around 17 billion US dollars last year.

Poland is China's biggest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe.

For CRI, I'm Zhao Jianfu.