Tibet Autonomous Region has witnessed its trade with south Asian nations expand as its regional economy develops and areas' infrastructure improves.

"The autonomous region has long kept good trade relations with its neighboring countries and new development has been achieved," said Dr. Li Qing, a research fellow with the Economic and Technological Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Tibet, bordering India, Nepal and Burma, has a boundary line of more than 4,000 kilometers. It also has five treaty ports and 28 border trade markets.

Border trade has played a crucial part in Tibet's trade volume. According to statistics, Tibet's aggregate trade volume reached 161 million US dollars, up 23.6 percent from the previous year. Border trade accounted for 48 percent of the total.

Tibet's major exports include cloth, pottery, animals, wool and daily-use industrial goods. Its products imported are mainly rice, cooking oil, jewelry, wrist watches and daily necessities.

Li noted that Tibet's export destinations are mostly in Asia, in particular, south Asian nations. Its exports to Asian countries were valued at 100 million US dollars in 2003, or 82.3 percent of the total, while its exports to Europe and North America were 9.34million dollars and 6.15 million dollars in value respectively.

Improvement of highways in Tibet have promoted trade with Asian countries said Li. So far a road network has been formed in Tibet with Lhasa as a center. These highways linking neighboring provinces include Sichuan, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Yunnan and an international highway of China-Nepal.

In 2003, Tibet transported 279 million tons of cargo and 3.25 million passengers, of which road transportation accounted for 95 percent and 78 percent respectively.

However, Tibet's import and export volume has remained small, compared with other autonomous regions and provinces. Tibet's trade volume stood at 160 million US dollars, making up only 0.02 percent of the country's total and less than one-tenth of the country's average.

Experts held that Tibet should make better use of its natural resources and improve its scientific, technological resources so as to promote its trade with other countries.

Source: Xinhua