Trade between North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region and countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) grew by 7.3 percent year on year in the first seven months of the year, according to statistics from Hohhot Customs.

The total value of trade between Inner Mongolia and BRI countries rose to 42.07 billion yuan (about $5.88 billion) in the first seven months, and Inner Mongolia saw a steady year-on-year growth of 9.6 percent in total foreign trade.

The region's imports and exports with Mongolia and Russia, its major trading partners, reached 20.76 billion yuan (up 19.4 percent) and 11.48 billion yuan (down 0.8 percent), respectively, in the first seven months. Trade with these two countries accounted for 76.6 percent of total trade between Inner Mongolia and BRI countries within that timeframe.

In addition, small-amount frontier trade contributed the most to the trade between the region and BRI countries and general trade grew rapidly. Inner Mongolia's main exports are steel, agricultural products, and mechanical and electrical products, while its main imports are resource products.