Economy

China upgrades Urumqi fair for Eurasia trade

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-09-06 14:26

URUMQI - China will upgrade an annual trade fair held in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, to a leading trade platform in the heart of Eurasia and to boost cross-border economic cooperation in a region vulnerable to unrest and violence.

The China Urumqi Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Fair, which closed here Sunday, will be re-launched as China-Eurasia Expo beginning next year, government organizers said, and it will become an important exchange platform for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

"The upgrading is overall and comprehensive," said China's Minister of Commerce Chen Deming, who heads the China-Eurasia Expo Organizing Committee.

He said the Expo will serve as China's platform to reach out to the entire Asia and Europe rather than just central and south Asia.

Though details of the expo is not yet clear, organizers and observers said it might include talks to ink trade pacts between regional economies and will cover diplomatic and cultural issues as well.

Foreign trade contracts signed at this year's fair totals $3.613 billion, organizers said, while project contracts --including domestic deals--reached 126 billion yuan and cover a broad field of mining, crude oil processing, construction and tourism, among others.

Xinjiang, which has a large proportion of ethnic Uygurs in its population and lies at China's far west bordering Central Asian states, including Pakistan and Afghanistan, is a region vulnerable to unrest and terrorist threats.

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In July 2009, 197 people were killed while 1,700 were injured in the country's worst riots in decades in Urumqi. Authorities blamed separatists and extremists for inciting the violence.

In the wake of the riot, the central government also ramped up development drives in this remote and largely underdeveloped region, aiming to root out the seeds of unrest.

But the air of the city remains tense and security measures were re-enforced over the past five days during the fair. No violence or security issues were reported.

Zhang Chunxian, the top official in Xinjiang, said holding the China-Eurasia Expo would help remake Xinjiang as a key region for China's opening-up to its western neighbors.

Ying Qian, an expert on regional cooperation with Manila-based Asian Development Bank, told Xinhua that the central government's policy supports for Xinjiang, such as taxation reform for crude oil and natural gas, and tax exemptions and reductions for enterprises in poverty areas, and increased fixed investment will undoubtedly increase the speed of economic growth and attract more domestic and foreign investments to Xinjiang.

He said those fixed investments aimed at enhancing Xinjiang's position as the land bridge to connect rest of China to central Asia and beyond will yield most economic benefits for Xinjiang, as well as for rest of member countries of the ADB-supported Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program.

The program, initiated in 1997 to encourage regional cooperation, includes Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China (focusing on Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The ADB economist said the investments should include key transport links, trade logistics facilities, and most importantly, border crossing points improvements.

"The CAREC countries need to turn their landlocked status into a land link for Eurasia, and to enable businesses to more readily access regional and global markets," said Ronald Butiong, the ADB economist who heads the CAREC Unit.