Jiangsu economy benefits from Belt and Road Initiative in 2017

East China's Jiangsu, the country's largest manufacturing province, saw booming foreign trade with countries along the Belt and Road Initiative in 2017, according to the province's annual government work report.

The export volume to countries along the initiative exceeded 590 billion yuan in 2017 ($92 billion), up 16.3 percent year-on-year, accounting for more than 24 percent of the province's total exports, the report said.

Jiangsu attracted more than $1.3 billion of direct investment from these countries last year.

Since 2013 when China launched the initiative, more than 1,100 companies from Jiangsu have invested in 54 countries and regions along the route, with 70 percent of investment worth over $10 million.

In 2017, Jiangsu invested about $3 billion into these countries.

By 2018, Jiangsu will launch 266 cooperation projects worth $25.6 billion, and establish 10 key industrial parks in the countries.

Jiangsu's economy grew 7.2 percent to 8.5 trillion yuan last year, the country's second-largest contributor to the GDP, behind the province of Guangdong.