Fair Promotes Xinjiang Trade

Vibrant conversation and earnest negotiations inside the Xinjiang International Exhibition Center drowned out the traditional local ethnic music that opened the 2000 Urumqi Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Fair in Urumqi Friday.

More than 1,800 business people from across the country -- including Hong Kong and Taiwan -- as well as some from Singapore, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, South Korea and the United States, opened booths at the fair.

Leading regional businesses occupy one third of the fair's space, promoting local products.

Taking advantage of the fair, the regional government has issued a set of new regulations to try and attract more international co-operative projects and investment. During the current fair alone, the region has put up 76 projects for international co-operation and 126 enterprises for domestic alliance. These enterprises include light industries, energy, infrastructure, construction, mining and travel.

The Tianjin delegation has already signed 19 co-operative projects with the regional government, amounting to 1.5 billion yuan (US$180 million).

"The current fair is the largest so far and has achieved a high level in its range and efficiency,'' said Ablait Abdureschit, governor of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The Urumqi trade fair has won increasing popularity as a result of the national plan to develop the western regions, the governor said.

Steady economic development, improvements in the investment environment, unity among all the ethnic groups and the region's social stability have all contributed to the success of the fair, Ablait Abdureschit said.

For Sevim Yalcin, head of the Industrial Department of Export and Promotion in Turkey, this is the second time she has been to Urumqi to attend the fair. She came last year to learn about Xinjiang and this year she wants to study the region by industrial sectors in more detail.

"We are thinking of promoting Urumqi in Turkey and bringing more Turkish businesses here,'' she said.

She said that Xinjiang has a lot of things to offer in the Turkish market, such as textiles and minerals.

The current Urumqi trade fair, which will end on September 8, is the ninth in the region. (China Daily)



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