Xiao Songxin, 53, did not have time to reunite with his family for the May Day holiday.
While his family had fun during the five-day holiday back home in Guangzhou, the capital of south China's Guangdong Province, Xiao was busy coordinating the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway (HSR) in Indonesia.
"As the construction is coming to an end, the project has entered a critical stage of the check and acceptance followed by joint tests," said Xiao. "All participating units are working intensively to ensure the smooth opening and operation of the project on schedule."
Xiao is the director of the Indonesian-Chinese consortium PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China (KCIC).
Run by KCIC, the high-speed railway line is a landmark project under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), connecting Indonesia's capital Jakarta and another major city Bandung. With a design speed of 350 km per hour, the railway will cut the journey between Jakarta and Bandung from over three hours to around 40 minutes.
In 2013, China put forward the BRI to foster new drivers for global development. To date, more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations have signed documents under the BRI framework, bringing an economic boon to participating countries.
Thanks to the joint efforts of China and Indonesia to participate in the Belt and Road cooperation, more people and enterprises from both sides have benefited from the opportunities created by BRI.
Dita Efrilia, from Bandung, Indonesia, came to south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 2016 to study.
After graduating from Liuzhou City Vocational College in the city of Liuzhou in 2019, she found a job in a company participating in the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung HSR.
"When I was studying in China, I often took high-speed trains for travel. It's very convenient and comfortable. The service was very good," she said, adding that people in her hometown expect the opening of the Jakarta-Bandung HSR as soon as possible so that it will be much faster to go to Jakarta.
She also said more cooperation between China and Indonesia is expected to bring more benefits, like job opportunities brought by the Jakarta-Bandung HSR.
The Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina), one of the main contractors of the Jakarta-Bandung HSR, started its business in the Indonesian market in 1995.
Wang Bin, general manager of the company, said that PowerChina has undertaken a total of 135 construction projects with a contract value of about 11.3 billion U.S. dollars in Indonesia, including five direct investment projects with an investment value of about 1.74 billion U.S. dollars.
"Indonesia has become one of the most important markets in our international business development strategy," said Wang.
In 2022, trade between Indonesia and China increased by nearly 20 percent compared with the previous year. China remained Indonesia's largest trading partner and largest export market, demonstrating the high degree of correlation and complementarity between the two economies.
"The BRI will continue to inject new impetus to the building of a closer China-Indonesia community with a shared future," said Wang Yuzhu, dean of the China-ASEAN Research Institute of Guangxi University.
Editor: Galia
