TIANSHANNET

The inland port of Alashankou in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region saw a continued surge in the number of cargo trains in the first half of 2019, local customs authorities said Tuesday.

Customs at Alashankou Port in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has improved the clearance efficiency for the China-Europe freight trains, according to the customs.

Swathes of beautiful lavender is luring a large number of tourists to Huocheng County in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

For Zhao Lei, who works in an international freight forwarding company in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, his job offers more than a salary, it enables him to make friends from Central Asian countries.

Cargo trains have been running smoothly at the inland port of Alashankou in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the first five months of this year, local customs authorities said Tuesday.

Foreign trade in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region surged over 22.5 percent to 11 billion yuan (about 1.6 billion U.S. dollars) in April, buoyed by booming border trade, custom authorities said.

It took less than half an hour to clear eight truckloads of sunflower seeds through the Bakti port in Xinjiang along the China-Kazakhstan border, as local customs authorities take measures to make trade more efficient.

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, abounding with grapes, plans to build more boutique wineries and expand the grape plant.

Liu Junyi, from Xinjiang, can reel off a list of many Russian cities as he is familiar with every one of them.