The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China prepares to establish two special economic zones (SEZ) in two cities bordering Russia and Mongolia.

Manzhouli City, located in northeastern part of the autonomous region, is a door-to-door neighbor of Chitinskaya Obl. of Russia. It is known as China's largest land port city.

The Manzhouli special economic zone is scheduled to be built some 40 meters away from the Sino-Russian border. The SEZ will be featuring protective trade, trade and import and export processing, entrepot trade with protective tariff, warehousing, and international financing settlement.

Statistics showed that foreign trade in Manzhouli has increased during the first half of this year as its exports hit 109 million U.S. dollars, up 12 percent, and imports hit 210 million U.S. dollars, up 124 percent.

Erenhot City, the second largest port city in Inner Mongolia, is also applying to be included in the plan for constructing frontier special economic zones.