(Yicai Global) Sept. 1 -- Provinces and municipalities in western China have recently agreed to build the China-Singapore logistics corridor, forming a regional international trade link from China to Singapore and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 

The governments of the Chongqing municipality and the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou and Gansu signed a deal to construct the southbound channel of the China-Singapore project yesterday. Customs inspection and quarantine authorities in Chongqing, Nanning, Guiyang and Lanzhou also signed a memorandum of cooperation, China News Agency reported.

The corridor will use railways, highways and transportation by air and sea. It will carry goods South from Chongqing via Guizhou and other provinces and cities, through the Beibu Gulf in Guangxi and other coastal ports, to Singapore and major ASEAN logistics hubs.

It will expand to South Asia, the Middle East and Oceania, and will connect to the China-Europe freight railway in the North using the Lanzhou-Chongqing Railway and main logistics centers in Gansu province, linking Central Asia, South Asia, Europe and other regions.

The corridor has started running tests. The southbound cross-border highway opened on April 28 last year. The eastern route (Chongqing-Hanoi, Vietnam) has been in regular operation and the central route (Chongqing-Bangkok, Thailand) became active on July 14 this year.

Relevant parties have conducted six two-way trials since April this year and have established companies to operate the southbound corridor's sea and rail transportation.

"We are convinced that this is a very promising and very worthwhile project," Chongqing Mayor Zhang Guoqing said at the signing ceremony. The goal is to jointly develop a cost-competitive golden logistic corridor, said Zhang.