China will step up building free trade zones with countries in South Asia, said Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) Gao Yan on Sunday.
Gao made the remarks in the opening ceremony of the Fourth China-South Asia Exposition and the 24th China Kunming Import and Export Fair held in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, from June 12 to 17.
The MOC and its counterparts in South Asia countries will try to accelerate the latter's exports to China and steadily promote mutually beneficial trade cooperation, pointed Gao.
China and South Asia have conducted fruitful cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, infrastructure, industrial parks, agriculture and livelihood under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative in recent years.
Statistics showed that in 2015 trade between the two sides grew 5 percent from the previous year to 111.2 billion U.S. dollars.
During the first four months of 2016, China's non-financial direct investment in South Asia countries reached 600 million U.S. dollars, registering a 5.3-fold year-on-year increase.
Some 5,000 enterprises from a total of 89 countries and regions attended the exposition.
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