BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road (B&R) routes surpassed 6 trillion yuan (about 863 billion U.S. dollars) in the first nine months of this year, data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) shows.

The figure represents a year-on-year growth rate of over 13 percent, outstripping the country's overall trade growth within the period by 3.3 percentage points, according to the ministry.

China's imports from B&R countries surged by 20.9 percent year on year to 2.7 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, while exports to those nations rose 7.7 percent to 3.38 trillion yuan.

Investment also posted strong growth in the period. Chinese enterprises saw their non-financial direct investment in those countries jump by 12.3 percent to 10.7 billion dollars.

Under the initiative, China has set up 82 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones that have offered the host countries tax revenue of over 2 billion dollars and 244,000 jobs collectively, MOFCOM data shows.

China's total trade with B&R countries over the past five years has exceeded 5 trillion dollars, with an annual average growth rate of 1.1 percent.