Ningxia blazes trail for opening-up of western region

Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region is expecting to get good news from Beijing as early as September, as the region aspires to tap its links with the Muslim world and as the central government continues to open up its landlocked western region to Central and West Asia.

Wang Zhengwei, chairman of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, said recently that the region's opening-up pilot zone proposal has been approved by the State Council, and opinions are now being sought on the implementation draft.

The idea of setting up Ningxia as an "inland west-looking opening-up pilot zone" was proposed in early 2011 by the regional government. Beijing has since ordered 10 central ministries to conduct feasibility research.

If the proposal can be formally approved by September and secure policy backing, the northwestern autonomous region is likely to take the lead in the opening up of the western inland region, following the coastal and border regions.

Profiting from links

Home to 2.22 million members of the Hui ethnic group, who account for 36 percent of the region's population, Ningxia is not shy about its goal to turn its population's ties with Arab and Muslim countries into economic opportunities.

"There are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, and Muslim-related trade is worth $2 trillion. But China accounts for only 15 percent of that, and there is huge development potential," Wang said.

Statistics show trade between China and Arab countries climbed from $36.7 billion in 2004 to $195.9 billion in 2011. China is Arab countries' second-largest trading partner, and the latter is China's seventh-largest trading partner.

After successfully holding two China-Arab States Economic and Trade forums, Ningxia has been chosen as the permanent site of the most important platform for China-Arab economic cooperation. The third forum will be held from Sept 13 to 17 in Yinchuan, Ningxia's capital.

Ningxia's ambition is embodied in its avant-garde international conference center, which will serve as the main site of the forum.

It is widely anticipated that in September, the central government's approval of the pilot zone proposal will be presented at the gathering.

During this year's annual session of the National People's Congress, Yuan Jinlin, a senior official form Ningxia, also said that the proposal was "likely" to be approved in September.

To fully implement the strategy and lure investment from Arab countries, securing favorable policies from Beijing is critically important.