Sept.11,2014–The frontier petty trade volume of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region amounted to 5.679 billion yuan in the first seven months of this year, 32.69 percent year on year, Lhasa Evening reported.
The export volume reached 5.607 billion yuan, accounting for 98.73 percent, an increase of 31.96 percent, and the import volume totaled 72.14 million yuan, 1.3 times that of last year.
It is reported that from January to July the frontier petty trade of the Tibet Autonomous Region has seen continued new highs in the recent year with big increases in both the import and export trade volumes. In the recent years, some favorable policies have been put forward to support the development of Tibet’s transportation, which built up the transport capacity of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the China-Nepal International Highway. It has not only ensured the export of the labor-intensive products from other parts of China via Tibet, but also allowed local products of Tibet to be exported thanks to the policy of “developing the border trade to enrich the people” made by China’s central government. The main reason for the increased import from January to July was the extended “zero tariff” policy for the least developed countries such as Nepal. The total trade volume of the distinctive ethnic products from Nepal has seen a sharp increase.
The 5th Forum on the Work of Tibet indicated that it supported the development of the great trade channel to South Asia. In the recent years, the Tibet Autonomous Region has continuously been engaged in the construction of the infrastructure of the border ports, and lowered the tariff and the cost of logistics, which boosted the border trade with China’s neighborly countries. Shigatse, bordered with India, Nepal and Bhutan boasts 227 outbound channels including four land ports and 28 frontier trade ports, with the latter accounting for 80 percent of the total frontier trade volume of the whole region.
