Two exhibitors stand in front of their exhibition area. (Photo: Yin Yan/People’s Daily)

The 25th China Lanzhou Investment and Trade Fair opened recently in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province, to deepen economic and trade cooperation and promote green development with countries along the Belt and Road.

China aims at promoting openness, originality, cooperation and development, which is in sync with the trend of global development, according to Leung Chun-ying, vice chairman of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Since 1992, the investment and trade fair has been successfully held 24 times in Lanzhou. This year’s fair pays more attention to openness, pioneering work and industrial upgrading and transfer, Leung noted.

Lin Duo, Secretary of CPC Gansu Provincial Committee, introduced Gansu as accessible from all directions, as well as being rich in natural resources such as non-ferrous metals. Its conventional industries, including petrochemical engineering, equipment manufacturing and nonferrous metallurgy, play an important role in the economic and environmental growth.

For more than 20 years, the Lanzhou trade fair has grown to the most important platform for promoting trade and investment in west China, said assistant commerce minister Li Chenggang.

The 2019 fair is a practice of China’s new measures to open even wider to the world, said Li.

The Ministry of Commerce, as a sponsor of the fair, has been supporting Gansu in upgrading the driving forces, inviting domestic and foreign investment and investing overseas, and will continue to support the trade fair as an effort to speed up the opening and development of west China, Li added.

Serbian Mining and Energy Minister Aleksandar Antic regarded the trade fair as a significant opportunity to further boost cooperation between two countries, and expand its market in China.

Antic expressed thanks to the Belt and Road cooperation through which Serbia and China have built stronger connections and had greater exchanges between two peoples and two countries.

ASEAN-China Centre has participated in the Lanzhou trade fair for five years in a row and made active efforts to promote local enterprises in Gansu to go out and attract capitals from ASEAN, said Chen Dehai, Secretary General of the inter-governmental organization.

For years to come, the Centre will continue to serve as a bridge between ASEAN countries and Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities for a bright future of the strategic partnership between China and ASEAN, said Chen.