Personnel from Yuncheng Customs provide technical assistance and guidance. [Photo by Chen Zepeng/Shanxi Economic Daily] 

In a bid to activate new growth momentum in the foreign trade sector, North China's Shanxi province has been striving to create an excellent business environment and provide quality services to every foreign trade entity under its jurisdiction. 

According to statistics, in the first two months of this year, the total import and export volume of goods in Shanxi reached 30.21 billion yuan ($4.17 billion), representing an increase of 26.8 percent compared to the same period last year. This growth rate ranked third nationwide. 

To promote the stable and high-quality development of foreign trade and investment, the commercial authorities in Shanxi have formulated and introduced new supportive policies to accelerate its foreign trade growth. At the same time, cross-border e-commerce pilot zones are being constructed to accelerate the development of new business models, and the digital transformation of the province's traditional service trade is being promoted to innovate in its foreign trade industry.

Since the beginning of this year, Taiyuan Customs has introduced and implemented a series of measures to help enterprises expand into overseas markets, and stabilize their market share. Strong support has also been provided to accelerate the development of emerging industries such as high-end equipment manufacturing, new materials, and new energy vehicles. This was done to promote cross-border e-commerce exports and generate a higher trade volume.

The Shanxi branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has established an integrated development service project for both domestic and foreign trade. It covers accounts, settlement, financing, foreign exchange, digital finance, cash management, business matchmaking, and more. This project aims to fully meet the comprehensive needs of enterprises in terms of overseas market expansion and export-to-domestic sales conversion, thus contributing to Shanxi's high-quality development and opening-up efforts.