Private businesses contribute to Tibet’s trade

17  January 2013

LHASA – Private businesses in Tibet have seen robust foreign trade growth, reporting $1.71 billion of imports and exports in the first eight months this year, a year-on-year increase of 280 percent.

The figure accounted for 87 percent of the total foreign trade of the autonomous region in southwest China, according to the local customs.

State-owned enterprises in the region, however, reported a 6.2-percent decline in foreign trade in the same period, registering $190 million.

Adjacent to India, Nepal, Myanmar and other south and southeast Asian countries, Tibet has reported continuous growth of foreign trade thanks to improved transport infrastructures, including the epoch-making Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world’s highest railroad which was put into operation in 2006.

The total volume of imports and exports in Tibet hit $1.36 billion in 2011, a rise of 62.5 percent year on year, setting a new record.