It was known from the Ministry of Commerce on December 17 that during the 10-year implementation of western development the Ministry of Commerce cooperated actively with relevant departments, issued a series of supportive policies and measures to speed up the process of opening up and strengthen the construction of market system in the western region, and finally achieved remarkable results.

In 2008, the total volume of imports and exports in the western region reached USD106.8b, which was USD93.54b higher than USD13.26b in 1998 and was nearly eight times of that in 1999, with an average annual growth of 23.2%; the proportion of imports and exports of western region in that of the whole country increased from 3.8 % in 1999 to 4.2% in 2008.