Fourth Silk Road expo and forum wraps up in Xi’an

Lasting for five days, the fourth Silk Road International Exposition and the Investment and Trade Forum for Cooperation between East and West China concluded Wednesday in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, with fruitful results.

The expo and forum, which aimed to implement the results from the recently concluded second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and also further open up China's western region, attracted a total of 1,762 participants from 69 countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, such as Columbia, Kazakhstan, Japan, Korea and Italy. Among them, 53 were politicians, while 17 were ambassadors to China, data from the organizing committee showed.

Gao Yang, deputy secretary-general to the organizing committee, said that more than 200 foreign enterprises from 25 countries and regions, together with over 2,000 domestic enterprises from 23 provincial regions, participated in the expo. There were over 20,000 local products on display as well as 65 economic and trade exchange activities held during the forum.

"The expo and forum fostered communication and cooperation between Shaanxi and countries and regions related to the BRI, as well as provincial regions within China. By May 15, it had attracted a total of 250,000 visits. Our official website got 1.98 million hits," Gao said.

According to Gao, 29 investment and trade promotional activities were held during the expo and forum, where 421 projects were promoted, covering fields of modern agriculture, equipment manufacturing, energy and chemicals, light textiles, medicine, infrastructure, energy conservation and environmental protection, service, tourism and culture.

A total of 65 business contracts were signed, attracting investments of 115.1 billion yuan ($16.7 billion), including $11.5 billion from projects with foreign investment.

"Shaanxi is the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, and also the window through which the country opens westward. We will continue to give full play to regional advantages and hold the expo and forum each year, to build a platform where countries and regions along the BRI can communicate with China. We look forward to seeing more participants in the expo and forum next year," Gao added.