(Yicai) March 10 -- Chinese lawmakers have proposed measures to reduce costs to build an integrated and open transportation market.

Having an integrated and open transportation market is a critical part of building a unified national market, and one of the key initiatives is lowering logistics costs, Transport Minister Li Wei said during the Two Sessions, the nation's top annual political meetings.

Reducing logistics costs would boost economic vitality, said Tang Lixin, a deputy of the National People's Congress and chairman of China Railway Nanchang Group. For goods such as fertilizers, rail transport can cut logistics expenses by about 30 percent compared to truck transport, Tang said, adding that the operator of railways in Jiangxi and Fujian provinces has proactively designed integrated supply chain solutions for agricultural companies.

Logistics costs could be cut by leveraging technological innovation, enhancing cross-sector data sharing to eliminate information silos, and standardizing transport equipment, said Wang Xianjin, chief engineer of a research institute under the transport ministry and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

China should combine green manufacturing, transportation, and construction to advance energy efficiency and emission reduction in key sectors, said Ouyang Zehua, a CPPCC member and vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang. He also urged promoting green and smart upgrades in transportation and supporting the global expansion of clean energy technologies.

Wu Yi, an NPC deputy and chairman of Shanxi Road and Bridge, touched on China's challenge of bolstering development while limiting emissions to reach its 2060 carbon neutrality goal. Currently, energy and transport integration projects focus on solar power, he said. The nation should better coordinate transportation, energy, and urban planning to establish a cohesive framework, he added.

China aims to lower the share of total social logistics costs -- which includes transport, warehousing, and administration -- to around 13.5 percent of its gross domestic product by 2027, down from last year's 14.1 percent, according to a related action plan.

The NPC and the CPPCC, together known as the Two Sessions, meet in Beijing each March to consider proposals and set the national political and economic agenda for the year ahead.

Editor: Emmi Laine