Trade between China's Hainan, BRI partners steadily rises over past decade

Aerial photo taken on May 4, 2021 shows the city view in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)

HAIKOU, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Over the past decade, south China's Hainan Province has seen its trade with Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partner countries grow from 57.4 billion yuan (about 8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2013 to 94.4 billion yuan in 2022, with average annual growth of 5.7 percent, said Haikou Customs.

In the first three quarters of 2023, the province's foreign trade with BRI partner countries reached 81.4 billion yuan, up 21.3 percent year on year. During this period, more than 1,140 enterprises in Hainan conducted foreign trade business with BRI partner countries, and over 60 percent of Hainan's foreign trade value with BRI partner countries was contributed by the private sector, said the customs.

Notably, over the past decade, Hainan has had more than half of its total foreign trade contributed by trade with BRI partner countries.

Hainan is an important node along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Haikou Customs will continue to cooperate with BRI partner countries in fields such as trade, inspection and quarantine and more, said Zhao Junlun, deputy head of Haikou Customs.