As a growing number of companies resume operation in southwest China's Yunnan Province, which neighbors Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos, the province is speeding up its opening-up drive amid the fight against the novel coronavirus epidemic.
Wang Guangfu and his staff have been busy expanding their business and finding business partners since the epidemic outbreak.
"It's true that our business has been affected by the epidemic, as many suppliers and logistics companies halted operation," said Wang, general manager of a cross-border e-commerce company based in Yunnan's Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture.
The epidemic, however, has driven more customers toward online shopping, he said.
Wang said his company's e-commerce platform has established partnership with 350 retailers this year. The platform now supplies Chinese goods to more than 7,500 Myanmar offline retailers.
Wang is bullish on the development of cross-border e-commerce between China and Myanmar.
"The economies of the two countries are highly complementary, and the increasing number of mobile internet users in Myanmar has created huge market potential," he said.
Wang is among a large number of businesspeople who are cashing in on Yunnan's further opening-up, as the province strives to build itself into China's open front to South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Last August, Yunnan officially inaugurated its new pilot free trade zone (FTZ) to promote its foreign trade and innovative modes of cross-border economic cooperation. The FTZ covers parts of Kunming, the provincial capital, Dehong Prefecture and Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture.
So far, a total of 3,672 new enterprises have registered in the Yunnan FTZ, including 23 foreign-funded enterprises with a combined registered capital of 44.07 million U.S. dollars.
"The construction of the FTZ has injected new vitality into Yunnan's high-quality development and opening-up," said Chen Lijun, vice president of the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.
Chen added that the FTZ would contribute to the building of the Belt and Road and promote mutual benefits and common development between China and its neighbors.
In January, Kunming launched a comprehensive service platform for cross-border e-commerce, allowing imported commodities to be delivered from local bonded warehouses, thus improving logistics efficiency and slashing purchasing costs for local customers.
Shao Min, vice chairperson of the company that runs the platform, said it used to take at least a week for Yunnan customers to receive imported goods after they placed orders on e-commerce platforms because of customs inspection and verification in other provinces.
"With the new service platform, local customers can choose to have the imported goods delivered to their homes within a much shorter time or pick up the goods on their own from the platform's offline stores," Shao said.
"The platform also makes after-sales services easily accessible to local customers," she said. "These are among the many benefits and opportunities brought by the Yunnan FTZ."
