2003 saw a burst in Shanxi' s export as it earned 5 billion U.S. dollars, a 35.1% increase over that of last year. With more diversified export goods and non-public sector spearheading the effort, Shanxi' s foreign trade had become a significant “pushing power” for its economy. Foreign investment had kept a steady growth while the scope of economic and technical cooperation with foreign countries had been enlarged with a number of projects having gone into operation in Brazil,Mauritius, and Tanzania.