The Chengdu government is actively participating in the Belt and Road Initiative by building a national pilot free trade zone in Southwest China with advanced logistics and transportation systems.

Operation Manager Natalia Kosana Goldysiak at the Polish Showroom in Chengdu introduces customers to every product they are interested in - from biscuits, chocolates and drinks to laundry detergent and liquid soap.

The hundreds of products displayed at the showroom come from Poland via the Chengdu-Europe Express Rail.

Goldysiak has been in Chengdu since 2011 when she was a postgraduate student in the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. The first Chengdu-Europe Express Rail, from Chengdu to Poland's third-largest city, Lodz, attracted her attention when it opened in April 2013

Instead of returning to her hometown in Poland, she decided to stay in Chengdu after graduation in 2014. She said she wants to be a link between Poland and Chengdu, facilitating more business cooperation.

"Seven years ago, few people in Poland knew about Chengdu," she said. But now, the city is famous and products from Chengdu are popular throughout Poland.

The railway line between Chengdu to Lodz is 9,826 kilometers long, and a train on the railway line travels 10 days to cover the distance, one-third the duration of sea transport, and at one-sixth the cost of transport by air.

In 2015, the railway line started its return trip from Lodz to Chengdu, and Goldysiak saw "historic opportunities".

In June 2016, Polish logistics provider Hatrans established its fully owned subsidiary, Chengdu Probiz, the first Polish company in the city, and opened the Polish Showroom to exhibit and sell Polish products. Goldysiak said the company has built two platforms - one for trade and the other for industry information - and both are based on the Chengdu-Europe Express Rail.

More than 300 products from Poland are being sold in China via the trade platform she is working for, and her partnered local retailers are in many major cities across the country, including Beijing, Guangzou, Hangzhou and Qingdao.

Last year, 460 Chengdu-Europe Express Rail trains were opened, accounting for 26 percent of all cargo express trains running between China and Europe that year.

Officials from Chengdu's logistics authority said the Chengdu-Europe Express Rail will have three routes this year. More than 1,000 trains are planned, including 650 on the middle route from Chengdu to Lodz, 150 on the north route to Moscow and 200 on the south route to Istanbul.

In addition to the railway system, the city, as China's fourth-largest civil aviation hub, is also increasing its international connections in the air.

The Chengdu-Los Angeles direct flight opened on March 15. It is the second direct flight from the city to the United States, after the Chengdu-San Francisco flight. The duration of the new flight is 13 hours, nearly four hours shorter than previous indirect flights.

Direct flights to Sydney, Moscow, Madrid and Dubai opened last year, and direct flights to Oakland, Sochi and Addis Ababa will open this year.

During the 22nd World Route Development Conference in Chengdu last September, Sichuan Airport Group signed agreements with six airline companies to open nine new international routes.

The city will have about 100 international air routes by the end of this year.

zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn