The first quarter saw the foreign trade volume reach 89.3 million U.S. dollars in the Tibet Autonomous Region, up 16.2 percent from the same period of 2007.

Imports stood at 15.09 million U.S. dollars, more than three times the comparable figure last year. Exports fell by 9.8 percent to 74.21 million U.S. dollars, said the regional government.

Tibet has seen great improvement in its infrastructure in the past three decades, especially for cross-border trade, thanks to increased investment from the central government of China.

Tibet's imports and exports exceeded 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in the past five years, almost double that of the previous five years, according to the regional government.

The region approved 19 foreign-funded projects last year, with a combined contractual investment of 41.72 million U.S. dollars. And the used volume of foreign direct investment was 24.18 million U.S. dollars in 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2008)