The customs office of the city of Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province, reported, on May 3, that the inland province's imports and exports totaled 7.12 billion yuan ($1.15 billion) in the first quarter, then noted that the ASEAN countries have become its biggest trading partner and export market.

Guizhou's bilateral trade with ASEAN countries reached 1.45 billion yuan in the first quarter, while its bilateral trade with the US topped 836 million yuan, for a year-on-year increase of 10.9 percent and accounting for 11.7 percent of the province's total trade volume. This put the US in second as a trading partner and the largest source of import.

So, although Guizhou is land-locked, obviously its efforts to push open up have paid off with fast growth economy. Its general trade volume in the first quarter reached 6.15 billion yuan and its processing trade volume amounted to 886 million yuan.

Its State-owned enterprises saw a decrease in trade volume for the same time period, reaching 3.78 billion yuan, for a drop of 21.8 percent compared to the same last year period and foreign-funded enterprises saw fast foreign trade growth, reaching 394 million yuan, an increase of 60 percent year-on-year.

Growth in electromechanical and high-tech industries were still on an upswing in the first three months, with total import and export volume of the first group reaching 1.98 billion yuan, up 21.3 percent, while those of the second group amounted to 718 million yuan, up 180 percent compared to the same period of last year.

Experts say that thanks to the flood of foreign capital into Guizhou and with the province closely tied to China's "Belt and Road Initiative" and its role in the Yangtze River Economic Belt economy, the province's foreign trade has a chance to grow faster. The local government is looking for a 20-percent increase in trade volume in 2015, with the total reaching $13 billion.