Yunnan looks to boost trade with neighbors

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If you live on a mountain, you live off the mountain; if you live by the water, you live off the water.

So goes a Chinese saying to describe the importance of geographic resources.

For Li Jiheng, governor of Southwest China's Yunnan province, the best resource his province boasts is its geographic proximity to South Asia and Southeast Asia.

"Yunnan is a gateway to the region," Li said. "Promoting trade and business relations with our southern neighbors has proved, and will continue, to be a major driver of the province's growth."

Yunnan borders Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, and is the Chinese province closest to the Indian Ocean.

Its trade stood at $21 billion last year, an increase of 31 percent from the previous year. Trade with regional countries, partly through border transactions, contributed greatly to its total foreign trade, Li said, without giving specific figures.

A closer economic relationship with its southern neighbors will help Yunnan achieve a series of economic goals, Li said.

The province aims to double its GDP, from the 2012 level, to more than $2 trillion by the end of 2017, and it wants to double people's incomes and reduce the poor population by at least 5 million by then. The province has the second-largest number of poor people among all China's provinces, 10.1 million at the end of 2011.

"To achieve these goals, we must accelerate economic growth by reaching out to neighboring countries," Li said.

The first China-South Asia Expo will be held in the provincial capital, Kunming, from June 6 to 10, and that will be a golden opportunity for businesses to link up, the governor said.

Eight countries - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and the Maldives - have signed up for the event.

Kunming intends to make the expo an annual event.

Questions:

1. What countries share a border with Southwest China's Yunnan province?

2. What are some of the province’s economic goals?

3. What event is being planned for June in Kunming?

Answers:

1. Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.

2. Double its GDP to more than $2 trillion by 2017, double people's incomes and reduce the poor population by at least 5 million.

3. The first China-South Asia Expo.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.