Editor's Note: Ten years since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), its profound impact has long gone beyond the realm of infrastructure—"hard connectivity"—and moved deeper into "soft alignment" areas such as market integration, industrial collaboration, and people-to-people exchange. The protagonist of this story is a Canadian businessman who has long navigated the global floral industry chain. His journey has taken him from Canada to China via Ecuador and Colombia; Miami; Netherlands; Israel and Ethiopia, shifting his business focus from imports to exports before finally settling in Kunming, Yunnan. This choice not only reflects the tide of China's consumption upgrading and industrial transformation but also vividly shows how the BRI is opening new horizons for inland cities. Through his eyes, we witness how a "Steel Silk Road" enables plateau flowers to reach the world, and glimpse the enduring appeal of a more open and dynamic Chinese market. This is precisely a vivid testament to "Kunming on the Belt and Road"—leveraging its hub advantages, taking the China–Laos Railway as a link, and letting Yunnan's fragrance become a bond for win-win cooperation across borders.

Why would a businessman with years of experience in global floral trade resolutely shift his business focus from Beijing to Kunming, the "Spring City"?

This is no ordinary relocation. The choice of Canadian floral wholesaler Peter Kertesz is a vivid response to the BRI's empowerment of inland city development: following the vigorous pulse of the Chinese market, riding in the wave of industrial upgrading in the "Flower Capital of Asia," and ultimately riding the express train of the China–Laos Railway, sending Yunnan’s fragrance blooming across the world. His journey quietly confirms a trend—Kunming, an inland hub on the BRI, is attracting global business attention with its accumulated industrial strength and unprecedented opening-up opportunities, emerging as a strategic pivot connecting internal and external markets, and linking north-south as well as east-west.

Origin: From "Observing Flowers Through Mist" to "Putting Down Roots" in Fertile Soil

"I travelled to China to promote our Ecuadorian roses. Our roses captured a good market in all Chinese markets, but we didn’t fully understand the market landscape." Peter described his early experience dealing with the Chinese market. Although he sold Ecuadorian roses to various parts of China through importers, he never truly felt he had touched the pulse of the Chinese market.

To gain a comprehensive understanding, he moved to Beijing, established an office, and immersed himself in the market, visiting wholesalers. It was during this period that he noticed a subtle but powerful shift: Yunnan's flowers were quietly improving.

"In the middle of 2018, I started to realize that Yunnan flowers were getting better and that eventually imported flowers would be phased out. This happened sooner than I thought." Based on this judgment, he made a crucial decision in 2019: to halt his import business, relocate his company to Dounan, Kunming—the largest fresh-cut flower trading center in Asia—and transform himself into a promoter of Yunnan's floral exports.

His transformation is not an isolated case. During the same period, Yunnan's agricultural products have been accelerating their "journey overseas." Official data shows that in the first half of 2025, the export volume of Yunnan's agricultural products increased by 15% year-on-year, ranking first among central and western Chinese provinces in scale. Peter's choice is perfectly aligned with the outward-looking momentum of this land.

Cultivation: Seeking the "Optimal Solution" Amidst the "Sea of Flowers"

Delivering delicate fresh-cut flowers to Europe is a race against both time and freshness. Peter knows well that Dounan is essentially a distribution center; to achieve stable exports, he must root himself upstream. He chose a different path: bypassing multiple intermediate links to directly seek out plantations run by owners "determined to grow high-quality flowers."

He aims to establish close cooperation with these owners, implementing strict post-harvest handling and temperature control standards from the moment of harvesting, and building a "quality corridor" that moves flowers straight from field to airport—or via trusted logistics partners who understand the value of the cold chain. While improving the post-harvest handling and cold chain standards across the entire industry remains a long-term task, changes are already taking root. "Some farms even surpass European standards.," Peter said with growing confidence.

This confidence stems from the industrial upgrading he has witnessed firsthand. Today’s Dounan has long outgrown its “street-market” days, introducing an internationally aligned "Dutch descending auction" system where a transaction is struck every 4 seconds on average. Over 1,600 floral varieties circulate here daily, and through "flower-specific flights" and an intensive logistics network, it has achieved a pattern of "buying globally and selling globally."

Opportunity: When "Flowers" Meet the "Steel Silk Road"

If quality is the foundation for flowers to go global, then efficient logistics are the wings that allow them to travel the world. In Peter's view, the new corridor that will rewrite the industry's rules is the China–Laos Railway, which runs through mountains and links domestic and international markets.

The railway brings more than just speed. Relying on efficient train services such as the "Lancang-Mekong Express," Yunnan's fresh-cut flowers can reach Bangkok, Thailand in as fast as 3 days. Since its opening at the end of 2021, the China–Laos Railway has transported a total of over 70 million tons of goods, with the number of cross-border commodity categories increasing from more than 500 at the time of opening to over 3,000. It is more than a railway—it has become a ‘golden artery’ that powers regional growth.

Peter looks further into the future: "As this railway extends itself towards Bangkok, and eventually Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, the train line can be an incredible tool, not only for flowers, but also for fresh produce and other exports." His prediction is becoming a reality. This "Steel Silk Road" not only enables Southeast Asian fruits to go from harvest to table in a single day but also promotes the formation of a new two-way trade ecosystem—Yunnan's coffee and vegetables are shipped south via the railway's cold chain, while ASEAN's durians, mangosteens, and other specialty products continuously flow northward, building a win-win corridor of "mutual benefit."

Future: Sowing Seeds of Hope on the Highland of Opening-Up

Today, in his spare time, Peter travels between plantations across Yunnan. His goal is clear: to find and cooperate with more partners capable of growing world-class flowers. The boundary of his career is essentially directly linked to how many high-quality flowers Yunnan's plateau can cultivate.

His expectations for the future are concrete and solid: first, aligning with a "world-class logistics system," and second, building lasting and stable confidence in "Grown in China" in the global market. This is not only Peter's personal vision but also the common voice of many export-oriented enterprises in Yunnan. Responding to this expectation, the local government continues to optimize services. For example, the innovative supervision model launched by Kunming Customs has reduced the inspection time for some exported agricultural products from several days to 30 minutes.

From the clatter of horse hooves on the ancient Tea Horse Road to the long whistle of the China–Laos Railway, the way Yunnan connects with the world has changed, but the core of opening-up, cooperation, and mutual benefit has never wavered. Peter Cortes' story is like a seed that crossed the ocean, taking root and blooming in Yunnan—a land that advocates opening-up. His story affirms that when personal vision meets the opportunities of the times, and when the fragrance of a flower resonates with the extension of a road, the most beautiful picture of common development quietly unfolds. (Kunming Information Port Reporters: Tan Shiyan, Yu Yawen)

Click here to view the Chinese report

(Editors: Evan, Rachel)