A rendering of the Qingtian Building in Yiwu. [Photo/tidenews.com.cn]

Yiwu, known as the world's supermarket, and Qingtian, dubbed the import supermarket, have joined forces, leveraging their respective "supermarket" statuses to buy and sell globally. This partnership is symbolized by the construction of the Qingtian Building project in Yiwu, which will serve as a new platform for cooperation.

The collaboration has sparked new economic vitality, as evidenced by the recent dispatch of a China-Europe freight train from Yiwu to Madrid, soon to return with foreign goods for Qingtian's markets.

In the past, transportation limitations made importing goods to the mountainous Qingtian costly. As a result, Qingtian's overseas Chinese merchants shifted their focus to Yiwu.

"Yiwu is close to Qingtian, and shipping costs are reasonable when using the Yixin'ou (Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe) freight train followed by road transport to Qingtian," explained Zhou Xufeng, president of the Yiwu Qingtian Chamber of Commerce. His imported wines and other products are transported via the Yixin'ou freight train and sold in Qingtian and other domestic locations.

The partnership has already brought over 700 Qingtian businesses to Yiwu, contributing significantly to Yiwu's international trade volume.

Global warehousing resources have also become another link in the win-win cooperation between the two regions. Yiwu and Qingtian enterprises have established overseas warehouses in various countries and regions, and these resources are now shared. This network facilitates the distribution of a diverse range of products, making Yiwu and Qingtian pivotal global trading hubs.

Officials from both regions are optimistic about the future, planning to expand their range of premium products and expecting the economic and trade cooperation to grow, potentially extending into social and cultural exchanges.