The foreign trade value in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region reached 11.22 billion yuan (1.56 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 11 months of this year, which marks a year-on-year increase of 9.4 percent, surpassing the national average by 4.5 percentage points.

From January to November, the imports in the region saw a robust growth of 18.2 percent year on year while the exports rose by 8.5 percent year on year, according to the figures released by the Lhasa Customs on Wednesday.

The regional capital Lhasa and the city of Xigaze are the "dual engines" propelling the growth. Xigaze's trade volume reached 5.85 billion yuan, marking a 12-percent increase, while the figure in Lhasa stood at 5.32 billion yuan, up 6.4 percent year on year.

The region's trade with the neighboring Nepal skyrocketed by 75.8 percent year on year to 4.42 billion yuan.

As a border region of China, Xizang has been pursuing high-quality development and a higher level of opening up.

To serve the initiative, the municipal government of Lhasa and Lhasa Customs signed a memorandum of understanding in May, jointly launching 15 measures to enhance the quality and efficiency of Lhasa's foreign trade, such as assisting enterprises in market expansion, promoting innovative development of foreign trade and optimizing the foreign trade business environment.