NANJING — East China's Jiangsu province saw its foreign trade grow by 2.6 percent year-on-year to a record high of 4.45 trillion yuan (about $688.9 billion) in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to customs figures.

Of the total, Jiangsu's exports hit 2.74 trillion yuan in 2020, up 0.9 percent year-on-year, while imports totaled 1.7 trillion yuan, up 5.5 percent.

The province's trade volumes with the European Union, the United States, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, South Korea and Japan accounted for 62.9 percent of its total, while its trade with countries along the Belt and Road rose by 1.9 percent to about 1.1 trillion yuan in 2020.

Private enterprises continued to play an important role in driving the province's foreign trade last year, contributing a volume of about 1.57 trillion yuan, up 14.7 percent over the previous year.