LHASA, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The total import and export value between southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region and Nepal reached 1.176 billion yuan (about 171.4 million U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of this year, up 33.9 percent year on year, local customs have said.
Nepal has long been Xizang's largest trading partner. In March, 1,350 kg of pea starch noodles produced in Xigaze City were cleared through customs and exported to Nepal for the first time, introducing distinctive plateau agricultural products to the South Asian market.
At Zham Port in Xigaze, batches of new energy vehicles (NEVs) made in China were ready for export. "There is strong demand in the Nepali market for environmentally friendly and convenient NEVs, indicating broad prospects for market development," said a person in charge of a local trading company.
In the first quarter, the scale of NEV exports from Xizang continued to rise steadily, up 25.1 percent year on year.
The rapid growth in import and export trade is supported by increasingly improved infrastructure. In January, Xizang achieved its first cross-border transport using Chinese container trucks at the Gyirong Port in Xigaze, replacing the previous segmented transportation method involving multiple transfers and reducing cross-border logistics costs by over 10 percent. ■
