East China's Zhejiang province organized a total of 20 business delegations to travel abroad and explore international markets in December 2022, winning export orders worth over 18 billion yuan ($2.66 billion), according to a news briefing on Monday.

As one of China's major provinces in foreign trade, Zhejiang has taken multiple measures to help enterprises expand in overseas market. Last month, the provincial authorities took the lead in organizing enterprises to travel abroad and grab orders.

"To facilitate enterprises' 'going global' efforts, we will continue to play an active role this year and arrange at least 1,000 business delegations for some 10,800 enterprises to travel overseas," said Chen Zhicheng, deputy director of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce, at the briefing.

"We will launch the 'Investment Zhejiang Global Promotional Year', encourage all sectors of the province to 'go out' to attract investment, provide funding support and simplify cross-border travel," Chen added.

Latest statistics show that export confidence index of foreign trade enterprises in the province increased by 0.1 and 2.3 percent respectively in November and December 2022, increasing two months in a row.

In addition, Chen said the province will also vigorously support enterprises to participate in overseas exhibitions, as about 80 percent of new customers and orders come from these exhibitions.

Meanwhile, Zhejiang will speed up the establishment of a foreign trade financial system so that foreign trade enterprises can get more financial support, with policy-based special loans for the foreign trade industry expected to increase by about 10 percent in 2023.

Author: Ma Zhenhuan

Editor: Tan Qikuan