Ninth China-Eurasia Expo spurs trade and business ties in Xinjiang

Urumqi, located in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, took center stage by hosting the ninth China-Eurasia Expo from June 25 to 29.

Continuously upgrading toward greater professionalism, cutting-edge innovation and pragmatic cooperation, the expo adapts to evolving global development trends and practical regional demands, achieving milestones in exhibition scale and expanding Eurasia's cooperation networks.

This year's expo gathered participants from 49 countries, regions and international organizations, with 27 countries and regions setting up pavilions. The United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Russia and Thailand debuted their standalone exhibitions, showcasing distinctive industries and premium products to boost cross-border exchanges and mutual learning.

More than 3,000 domestic and overseas enterprises and institutions revealed their latest technologies, products and solutions across the 140,000-square-meter exhibition venue, demonstrating vitality in Eurasian economic and trade cooperation.

Diplomatic praise

Khalil Hashmi, the ambassador of Pakistan to China, hailed the expo's record-breaking scale as a testament to global confidence in Xinjiang's role as a hub for China-Eurasia economic and trade cooperation.

He highlighted that Pakistan, as one of this year's guest countries of honor, featured an enlarged pavilion, showcasing the friendship and robust economic and trade ties between China and Pakistan.

"We have set up pavilions at previous expos, but this year's status as a guest country of honor marks a new milestone in bilateral relations," Hashmi said. He added that the growing number of participating nations and enterprises reflects international business communities' optimism about Xinjiang's development potential, recognizing the region as a vital platform for win-win trade and investment cooperation.

The ambassador expressed confidence that the expo will continue to serve as a bridge for interconnected development and common prosperity across Eurasia and beyond.

Selcuk Unal, the Turkish ambassador to China, emphasized the millennia-old Silk Road bonds that link Turkiye and China. Five Turkish enterprises participated in the expo, with more business representatives traveling to Xinjiang to explore market opportunities.

He looked forward to new cooperation deals and trade contracts between Turkish companies and Chinese partners to deepen Eurasian commercial exchanges.

The president of the UAE China Xinjiang chamber of commerce and fellow townsmen association, a nine-time attendee of the expo based in Dubai, said that the event has become a key platform connecting Xinjiang with Middle Eastern markets.

He highlighted the natural complementary advantages between Xinjiang and the UAE: Xinjiang boasts abundant agricultural and sideline product resources, while the UAE has strong market demand for such goods.

Frequent bilateral promotional activities and in-depth cooperation via the expo have laid a foundation for future collaboration. He expected more pragmatic and win-win cooperation achievements to occur at this year's event.

Key events

Centering on four areas — trade promotion, investment cooperation, consumption expansion and innovative collaboration — the expo hosted over 80 themed economic and trade activities. These covered new product launches, cross-border trade matchmaking and investment promotion negotiations.

Highlight events included the Kazakhstan-themed Export to China session, the Central Asian diplomatic and entrepreneur dialogue, and an international buyer matchmaking forum.

On June 27, the expo's international buyer matchmaking forum was held at the Xinjiang International Conference and Exhibition Center, building a face-to-face cooperation platform for global suppliers and purchasers.

Participants from various sectors, including light manufacturing, agricultural products, textiles and apparel, new energy equipment, digital trade and cultural tourism, delivered industry presentations.

Enterprises from multiple Chinese provinces conducted in-depth negotiations with foreign buyer delegations, signing a batch of cooperation agreements spanning intelligent technology, agricultural machinery, engineering construction and commercial services.

Another highlight was the Kazakhstan-themed Export to China event on June 25, attracting more than 400 officials and entrepreneurs from both countries. It aimed to expand imports from Kazakhstan, leverage Xinjiang's unique geographical advantages, and deepen bilateral economic and trade cooperation by helping Kazakh enterprises tap into the Chinese market.

Meanwhile, the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone's Investment Promotion and Industrial Cooperation Matchmaking Conference attracted more than 200 representatives from the business bureaus of 12 provincial-level regions, think tanks, research institutes, industrial parks and companies.

The event announced five major cooperation achievements and eight key platforms, with three core zones in Urumqi, Kashgar and Khorgos showcasing their development strengths.

A milestone was the expansion of the free trade zones alliance, with the China (Inner Mongolia) Pilot Free Trade Zone joining the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Yunnan province, Heilongjiang province and Xinjiang to form a coordinated development cluster.

The five border regions jointly launched a three-year action plan for collaborative innovation of free trade zones (2026-28). The plan focuses on practical cooperation in institutional innovation exchange, cross-border logistics connectivity, industry chain coordination, market regulation linkage and talent resource sharing to fuel high-level opening-up along China's border areas.