WINNIPEG -- Winnipeg’s inland port project continues to develop and recently signed an agreement with a Chinese inland port to support increased trade and investment in Canada and China.

CentrePort Canada and Chongqing’s Cuntan Port in China signed an agreement to work cooperatively on a handful of key priority areas, including exchanging information, promoting initiatives and sharing technologies.

When it comes to information exchange, the two ports plan to share best practices to help increase trade. The ports also plan to develop strategic partnerships to help raise awareness of activities in each port to help attract foreign investments on both sides of the Pacific, and will also share information on the latest scientific developments on the efficient and secure movement of goods throughout North America, Asia and beyond.

“Our government has made impressive gains in our commercial relationship with China in recent years. In fact, China is now Canada’s second-largest merchandise trading partner,” said Stockwell Day, president of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway.

“CentrePort Canada is one of the key projects our government has supported through the Asia-Pacific Gateway,” he added. “Today’s announcement will make CentrePort Canada and the Asia-Pacific Gateway even more attractive to international business and investments.”

CentrePort Canada is a 20,000-acre inland port and trade area surrounding J.A. Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg that connects air, road and transcontinental rail transportation. CentrePort’s developers tout Winnipeg’s strategic location, in the heart of the continent, as an ideal manufacturing, warehousing and distribution hub for goods destined to and from the North American marketplace.

The Cuntan Bonded Port Zone is located in Lianglu, Chongqing. The port is at the centre of the economic belt of the upper Yangtze, and connects China’s western and eastern coasts, as well as its northern and southern regions.

It is China’s first inland bonded port area and provides access to multi-modal transportation options, including air, rail, road and marine. It also has the transportation infrastructure necessary to move goods efficiently and affordably throughout Asia, North America and beyond.

“CentrePort Canada is proud to partner with the Cuntan Bonded Port Zone,” said Diane Gray, president and CEO of CentrePort Canada. “As inland ports located in the geographic centres of two significant trading countries, we share a lot of similarities.

“Working together, we can help create better global awareness of our respective operations, explore new and emerging business opportunities in one another’s markets and ensure we are continuing to enhance trade along the Asia-Pacific Gateway.”