URUMQI, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The volume of online transactions in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region grew by 16 percent year on year in 2018, local authorities have said.

The volume of online transactions reached about 188.1 billion yuan (about 28 billion U.S. dollars) last year, according to the regional commerce department.

Xinjiang's online retail sales totaled 29.7 billion yuan in 2018, a year-on-year growth of 26.1 percent. Online retail sales in the region's rural areas rose 44.5 percent from the previous year to nearly 7.2 billion yuan.

E-commerce has played an increasingly important role in promoting economic growth, alleviating poverty and boosting consumption and employment in Xinjiang, said Zhao Xu with the regional commerce department.

In a bid to cultivate more e-commerce talent, the region provided e-commerce training programs for 100,800 people last year.