Workers weld components at a workshop of an automobile manufacturing enterprise in Qingzhou City, east China's Shandong Province, Feb. 28, 2021. (Photo by Wang Jilin/Xinhua)

JINAN, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- East China's Shandong Province saw its foreign trade with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative rise 41.3 percent year on year to about 660 billion yuan (102.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters of 2021, local authorities said.

Exports to Belt and Road countries hit around 367.8 billion yuan, up nearly 40 percent, year on year. Imports from these countries grew 43.6 percent to about 292 billion yuan, showed statistics announced at a press conference held Monday by the provincial government.

Meanwhile, the province's trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) accounted for more than 45 percent of its total trade volume with Belt and Road countries during the period.

Shandong's import and export value with Belt and Road countries occupied more than one-third of the province's total foreign trade during the same period, said the local customs. ■