Aerial photo taken on Nov. 3, 2018 shows ships at a dock in Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin)

Guangxi, an economic gateway to the ASEAN countries, saw a 19.6 percent increase in its foreign trade volume in the first seven months of 2019, surpassing that of the national foreign trade growth over the same period.

NANNING, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region saw its foreign trade volume reach 264.14 billion yuan (37.51 billion U.S. dollars) in the first seven months of the year, up 23.8 percent year on year, local authorities said Monday.

The growth was 19.6 percentage points higher than the national foreign trade growth over the period, according to the customs authorities of Nanning, the regional capital.

In the first seven months, Guangxi's trade with ASEAN, its biggest trading partner, saw a year-on-year increase of 13 percent to reach 128.51 billion yuan, accounting for 48.7 percent of the region's foreign trade. In particular, the region's trade with Thailand surged 300 percent to reach 18.54 billion yuan.

Moreover, its trade with countries along the Belt and Road totaled 141.02 billion yuan during the same period, up 16.2 percent year on year.