The 2015 Eurasia Commodity and Trade Expo is due to start on Aug 12 in Urumqi, and is expected to play a constructive role in building Xinjiang into a core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt. The EACT Expo will run until Aug 16.

An EACT Expo kick-off meeting was held in the capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The Secretariat of China-Eurasia Expo and Ministry of Commerce’s trade development bureau introduced the EACT Expo as a commercial industrial exhibition to be held every other year from 2015.

Chi Wenjie, secretary general of the EACT Expo organizing committee, said, “The EACT Expo is an expansion of the China-Eurasia Expo, also a very professional commodity trade show. Benefiting not only Xinjiang, but also exhibitors and buyers, is the aim of the expo.

“The EACT Expo will help maintain the regular international trade relationship and the commercial resources, by sustaining the development of the two expos – the China-Eurasia Expo and EACT Expo.”

The next China-Eurasia Expo will be held in 2016. It was rescheduled to be held biennially instead of annually after the 2014 event, in accordance with the central government’s instructions.

The China-Eurasia Expo yielded international business cooperation projects worth $23.4 billion, and consolidated projects of 892.6 billion yuan ($146 billion).

The event helped Xinjiang achieve significant results with adjacent countries in economy, trade, technology and transportation, while its scale and influence were also increased.

Chi said, “We have set the target to form a pattern for the expos in five years; forge them into ‘No 1 in China, known to the world’ in 10 years.”

Expo on Silk Road

The new Silk Road covers 50 million square kilometers across 18 Asian and European countries and encompasses 3 billion people. It boasts rich energy, mining, tourism, cultural and agricultural resources.

Three ministries and commissions in China named Xinjiang as core area of the Silk Road economic belt and the hub of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The autonomous region plans to keep opening-up to Central Asia and Europe, and grasp the opportunity to boost the Silk Road economic belt.

The China-Eurasia Expo and EACT Expo fit into the Belt and Road Initiative, as Xinjiang plays a role as a “bridgehead” in China's westward opening-up.

The expos will put Xinjiang’s role into play to serve the countries along the Silk Road economic belt and boost trade and cooperation with Central, South, and West Asia regions.

The expos’ organizing committees said Xinjiang has successfully hosted the China-Eurasia Expo four times and established four key platforms for cooperation, economic development and diplomatic relations.

The expos are regarded as a critical platform for building the Silk Road economic belt. Bearing the philosophy of openness and cooperation, the events share development concepts with countries in Europe and Asia and jointly create business opportunities. The core concept of negotiating and constructing with mutual benefit has received wide praise, support and positive responses.

In the past four years, representatives from China and abroad met in Xinjiang in September. The China-Eurasia Expo attracted many Chinese and international media, who focused on Xinjiang.

The world’s governments, leaders and diplomatic envoys met in Urumqi during the China-Eurasia Expo. They talked about their views on bilateral ties, business cooperation, local exchanges and major international and regional issues. They improved understandings of each other, strengthened mutual trust and promoted cooperation.

Many government leaders and businesspeople benefited from seeing Xinjiang with their own eyes during the expo, and eliminated any bias they had formed before actually knowing or visiting the region.

Xinjiang people also enjoyed the benefits and the changes made by the expo can be found in people’s lives. For example, lamb from Uruguay is now on residents’ dinner tables after the trade of it was agreed at the expo.

Practical EACT Expo

The 2015 EACT Expo will cover 42,000 square meters and has strengthened its industrialization and market orientation through improved planning, organizing, team building and service, according to the organizing committee.

The expo’s theme and setting aims to be small-scale, proficient and specialized. The event will highlight the industrial exhibitions, including those on textiles and apparel, agricultural products, food, jewelry, crafts, Xinjiang wines and overseas exquisite products.

The expo forum is expected to be compact and practical. Organizers said it is designed to be more industrial and professional to meet business demands and make investments and trade promotions more effective.

The organizing committee said it would provide top services to create “an industrial exhibition with professional standards held by specialized teams at a professional level”.

Companies and national and regional business associations are inviting exhibitors and visitors to the event. A series of exhibitor and visitor events and promotional activities have been run from late 2014, after the 4th China-Eurasia Expo, to April this year.

For the series, embassies and trade promotion organizations from 24 countries and regions were visited and large promotional seminars involving 45 countries and regions were held in Beijing.

haoyan@chinadaily.com.cn