[LMC] China, Mekong countries sees 15.6% increase in trade

In the first ten months of 2017, the total trade volume between China and the five Mekong countries reached 177.57 billion U.S. dollars, representing a year-on-year increase of 15.6 percent.

Peng Gang, deputy director-general of the Asian Department of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, released on December 16th in west Yunnan’s Dali, at the backdrop of the on-going 3rd Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

China is the largest trading partner of Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. As a whole, the Mekong region makes China's fifth largest trading partner.

From January to October, China's non-financial investment in the five countries reached 2.68 billion U.S. dollars, up by 22.3 percent year on year.

“As of October this year, Chinese companies have signed many infrastructure projects in the Mekong countries, totaling a contract value of 137.99 billion U.S. dollars.” Peng Gang said.

To facilitate infrastructure building and production-capacity cooperation, China set up a 10-billion- RMB concessional loan and a 10-billion-USD credit line, said Peng.

Noting trade in the region will be further expanded, Peng encouraged the five Mekong countries to participate in the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai, November 2018.

Reporting by Zhang Ruogu and Han Chengyuan