China-Europe rail freight traffic through Belarus up twofold in 2017

      Rail freight traffic from China to Europe through Belarus rose twofold in 2017, head of the Belarusian Railways Vladimir Morozov told the media during the roundtable discussion “Belarus’ transit potential for Russia’s foreign trade shipments” in Moscow, we learned from the press service of the Belarusian Embassy in Russia. The rail freight traffic bound for Europe is expected to remain in an uptrend in 2018, too.Vladimir Morozov stressed the importance of Russia’s transit through Belarus for the Belarusian Railways: Russian cargoes account for 87% of the total volume of rail freight traffic.Transit is extremely important for Belarus due to the role of transport for the country’s economy, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Russia Igor Petrishenko said. “As a EAEU member state located at the junction of roads to the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, between such big economic players as China and the EU, Belarus seeks participation in large international infrastructure projects. We supported the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative and became a hub of this project. Belarus also has an interest in boosting freight traffic from Europe to Asia-Pacific countries, and vice versa,” Igor Petrishenko remarked.