URUMQI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has greatly benefited from developing its ports to boost foreign trade in 2019, according to the region's ongoing legislature meeting Thursday.

Among the region's 18 ports, the port of Khorgos stood out with a total trade volume of 108.9 billion yuan (15.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 11 months of 2019, handling around 31.45 million tonnes of import and export goods.

Xinjiang also pushed forward cross-border e-business and set up bonded areas to expand its trade cooperation with foreign countries, especially Belt and Road countries and regions.

Xinjiang has set up trade relations with 170 countries and regions. From January to November last year, the regions' total foreign trade has reached 149.17 billion yuan, up 31.1 percent year on year.

In 2020, Xinjiang will continue to rely on the ports with improved infrastructure to boost its foreign trade, especially in the exports of textile and apparel, electromechanical, chemical engineering, construction and local agricultural products, according to the region's government work report.