Foreign Trade in Northwest Chinese Province Developing Steadily

YINCHUN July 29 (Xinhua) -- Imports and exports of China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region were worth 156 million US dollars in the first six months of this year, up 10.9 percent from the same period of 1998.

Foreign trade and economic cooperation department statistics show exports worth 130 million US dollars for the period, an increase of 4.6 percent.

Exports to the Republic of Korea increased 1.6-fold, while those to Thailand, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia went up 2-fold. Exports to Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium were up 7.8 percent.

Ningxia has many ethnic groups and is relatively less developed. It has established trade ties with 70 countries and regions and exported 320 types of goods and it has about 500 overseas-invested enterprises.