BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) – For Southeast China-situated Fujian, with "Min" for short and Fuzhou as its capital, its trade with the Belt and Road countries and regions has become a new driver for Fujian's export.
In the first two months of 2019, its export to ASEAN reached 21.29 billion yuan, up 10.3 percent year on year.
According to the Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road issued by China in 2015, Fujian is supported to build itself into a core area of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
In 2018, Fujian completed building of 181 berths capable of handling over 10,000 deadweight tonnes (DWT) ships each. Its cargo throughput of ports amounted to 558 million tonnes, up 7.3 percent, and its container throughput was 16.47 million TEUs, up 5.3 percent.
In addition, the province had 176 freight trains operating between China and Europe, and 194 enterprises investing 5.52 billion U.S. dollars abroad, up 57 percent year on year.
Its imports and exports with the Belt and Road countries and regions were valued at 394.62 billion yuan in 2018, up 10.7 percent year on year.
Now Fujian is accepted as a pacesetter in advancing the Belt and Road construction, and the major hub and frontier platform for business cooperation. The province is pushing forward the building of the core area of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road towards high-quality development. (Edited by Duan Jing, duanjing@xinhua.org)