The China (Hubei) Pilot Free Trade Zone held a valuable online promotion and investment conference on July 22, when 18 resident companies participated and communicated with representatives of over 20 chambers of commerce and businesses from nine out of 10 ASEAN countries on relevant trade issues.

Local officials said the event was held to help its corporate residents to trade in foreign markets.

The 18 companies are located in East Lake High-tech Development Zone -- also known as Optics Valley -- which is part of the China (Hubei) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Optics Valley is located in Wuhan, capital city of Central China's Hubei province and is also the Wuhan area of China (Hubei) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

According to officials, the conference was mainly held for promoting bilateral investment and trade between Hubei enterprises and ASEAN countries’ enterprises. Representatives from over 80 Hubei groups participated in the meeting, including the 18 Optics Valley firms.

ASEAN became the largest trade partner of Hubei in 2019.

Driven by the Hubei pilot free trade zone, total trade between Hubei and ASEAN was worth 58.74 billion yuan ($8.39 billion) in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 38.4 percent, accounting for 14.9 percent of the total import and exports of the whole province.

According to Optics Valley officials, there are more than 1,000 foreign-funded enterprises in the zone and 100 of the world's top 500 companies are investing in Optics Valley.

They said the total value of its imports and exports accounts for 33.5 percent of the province's and 54.1 percent of Wuhan's, making it the most active economic development area in the city.