Please see below the latest updates from: The Silk Road China – Asia- Europe

China upbeat about 2019 foreign trade growth: MOC

“The development of China’s foreign trade remains on a strong and solid foundation,” MOC spokesperson Gao Feng told a news conference.

President Vladimir Putin will meet with Chairman Xi in May in Beijing to discuss on further developments and sign additional agreements.

The confidence derives from deepening supply-side structural reform, improvement in the country’s foreign trade structure and increasing internal impetus to growth, Gao said.

The ministry has unveiled a list of 30 key markets for foreign trade expansion this year, which will see China actively tap into the potential of emerging and developing economies related to the Belt and Road Initiative while continuing to explore the traditional markets in developed countries.

Gao said the ministry will offer enterprises greater support including trade promotion, public information services and government institutional safeguards for trade market diversification.

“We will roll out more measures in a targeted and timely manner to help foreign trade firms turn challenges into opportunities and achieve innovational development,” Gao said.

China’s import and export volume hit a historic high of 30.51 trillion yuan (about 4.5 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2018, up 9.7 percent year-on-year, official data showed.