Border fair in SW China generates 280-million-yuan trade

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 ◆ Border fair in SW China generates 280-million-yuan trade

A 10-day border trade fair in Xishuangbanna in southwest China's Yunnan Province has reported trade worth 280 million yuan (33.86 million U.S. dollars).

The trade fair, which ended on Monday, attracted more than 2,000 business people from China and such neighbors as Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.

Xishuangbanna, a prefecture in southern Yunnan, shares a 900-kmborder with Laos and Myanmar.

Last year Xishuangbannan generated cross-border trade worth 800 million yuan, accounting for 80 percent of its total foreign trade.

The fair had considerably boosted cross-border trade and would be a test for developing free trade with southeast Asian countries,said Yan Zhuang, head of the prefecture government.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed last November to establish the China-ASEAN Free-Trade Area in 10 years.

Total trade between China and ASEAN from January to September this year reached 38.55 billion US dollars, a year-on-year rise of 27.19 percent.

Yunnan borders the three ASEAN member states of Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

The Xishuangbannan border trade fair has been held since 1997 and the turnout this year was the highest to date.