LHASA — The export of whole vehicles from China to Nepal via the ports in Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region has emerged as a new growth engine for Sino-Nepalese trade, according to customs in Lhasa, the regional capital.

In 2021, Lhasa customs supervised and examined 806 automobiles made in China for exports with a trade value of 145 million yuan (about $22.8 million), up 760 percent year-on-year. Among them, 419 were new energy vehicles, marking an increase of 974 percent, said Yuan Jintao, a customs official.

Li Chaohua, a businessman in Tibet, said that his company exported more than 500 cars to Nepal via ports in Tibet last year, adding that the figure is expected to double this year.

Tibet serves as an important land route from China to South Asia. Despite the impact of COVID-19, Nepal has remained the largest trading partner of the region.

According to Lhasa customs, the foreign trade between Tibet autonomous region and Nepal reached 1.8 billion yuan in 2021, up 69.4 percent year-on-year.

Taking into account the local situation of epidemic prevention and control, Lhasa customs set up a special service window for automobile export and adopted a series of measures to streamline customs clearance.