KUNMING, June 16 -- Politicians and businesspeople are brainstorming how the Belt and Road Initiative can bring profits and propel regional integration in South Asia at the China-South Asian Expo.

The expo opened on Tuesday with a record turnover of 25.19 billion U.S. dollars, up 19.8 percent year on year. The five-day event in Kunming, capital of the southwest China's Yunnan Province, has attracted more than 20,000 businesspeople and 3,179 enterprises from 70 countries or regions.

Muhammad Iqbal Tabish, secretary general of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said at the event that Asian countries realize what the China-proposed Belt and Road regional trade network could mean to them.

"During the past century, we have come close to forgetting we were all beneficiaries of the ancient Silk Road. China's new Silk Road initiative has brought that awareness back," he said.

Investment contracts worth 785 billion yuan (126 billion U.S. dollars), up 10.8 percent, have been signed at the expo. The investment covers infrastructure, electronics and information, pharmacy, tourism and energy.

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, aims at reviving the ancient trade route between Asia and Europe. The network threads through over 60 countries and regions, with a total population of 4.4 billion.

V.K. Singh, India's minister of state for external affairs, said 25 percent of the population of Silk Road countries live in South Asia, where regional market integration has great prospects but also faces challenges ranging from food shortages, health problems and an energy crunch.

Singh said that a prosperous South Asia needs infrastructure investment from China and other Asian countries to improve regional railways and road networks so supply chains can be forged.

The World Bank has forecast that from 2015 to 2020, South Asia will see 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars of investment flowing to infrastructure construction to support development in power generation, transportation and drinking water supply.