HOHHOT, Jan. 22 -- North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region saw a foreign trade volume of 196.53 billion yuan (about 27.32 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023, up 30.4 percent year on year, hitting a record high, local authorities said Monday.

According to the Hohhot Customs, the region's exports came in at 78.57 billion yuan, up 28.1 percent year on year and imports reached 117.96 billion yuan, up 32 percent year on year.

In 2023, the region's imports and exports to the Belt and Road Initiative participating countries reached 152.21 billion yuan, up 40.9 percent year on year and accounting for 77.4 percent of the region's total.

The region's foreign trade with Mongolia was 69.9 billion yuan, up 50.7 percent year on year and that with Russia reached 34.66 billion yuan, up 77.3 percent year on year.

In addition, Erenhot Port, the largest land port between China and Mongolia, handled a total of 3,294 China-Europe freight trains last year, up 30.8 percent year on year, and Manzhouli, China's largest land port, handled 5,001 China-Europe freight trains, up 3 percent year on year.

In 2023, the freight volume handled by the ports in Inner Mongolia exceeded 100 million tonnes for the first time.