Photo taken on June 2, 2018 shows a China Railway (CR) Express cargo train leaving for Minsk from Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province.
BEIJING, Jun. 5 (Xinhua) – Shijiazhuang, capital city of north China's Hebei Province, saw its exports to the countries along the Belt and Road routes in 2017 amount to 2.49 billion U.S. dollars, up 7.2 percent year on year, accounting for 35.1 percent of its total exports.
In 2017, Shijiazhuang's exports stood at 47.97 billion yuan, up 12.5 percent year on year.
The rising exports provide potential for its launch of China-Europe CR Express cargo train from Shijiazhuang to Minsk.
On June 2, the first China-Europe CR Express cargo train set off from Shijiazhuang to Minsk, capital of Belarus, via the Manzhouli port. The journey is about about 9,500 kilometers and will take about 15 days. (Edited by Hu Pingchao, hupingchao@xinhua.org)