Development of northwestern China will get a big boost with the Urumqi Trade Fair being held in the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The 11th annual fair is expected to witness the signing of contracts for 16 overseas-funded projects and 178 domestically funded projects. The projects will be worth more than 12 billion yuan (about 145 US dollars), according to the fair's organizers.
Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo and Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Tomur Dawamat attended the opening ceremony on Sunday.
A record number of participants are taking part in this year's fair, including 17 delegations from Xinjiang, 26 delegations from elsewhere in China, and over 30 delegations from overseas.
At the 10 previous fairs, contracts for 1,505 overseas-funded projects were signed, worth 14.56 billion US dollars, while 3,624 contracts, worth 98.57 billion yuan (about 11.87 billion US dollars) were signed between Xinjiang and investors from other provinces.