URUMQI, Aug. 17 -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region saw a yearly rise of 59.3 percent in foreign trade in the first seven months of this year, the local customs authorities said Thursday.

The region's total import and export volume in the January-July period reached 183.16 billion yuan (about 25.4 billion U.S. dollars), boosted by a slew of favorable policies, according to Urumqi Customs.

In particular, its trade with countries along the Belt and Road rose by 61.4 percent to 169.1 billion yuan during the period, the customs said.

The region has seen growing competitiveness in the export of high value-added products, including electric vehicles and solar cells, which increased by 3.26 times and 36.9 times, respectively, between January and July.