Expo hailed as key platform for Eurasian cooperation

Visitors talk on Monday at the Kazakh booth during the 7th China-Eurasia Expo, which opened in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The expo is scheduled to run through Thursday. TANG YONG/FOR CHINA DAILY

President Xi Jinping reaffirmed on Monday China's commitment to using the China-Eurasia Expo as a platform to further expand cooperative areas in Eurasia, raise the levels of the cooperation and promote common growth and prosperity.

In a congratulatory letter to the opening of the 7th China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Xi highlighted Eurasia as a region full of vitality and potential for growth and a key area for international cooperation in jointly building the Belt and Road.

Over recent years, Xinjiang has fully leveraged its geographical strengths, proactively developed itself into a core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt and promoted connectivity, win-win cooperation and common development between China and Eurasian countries, he said.

The president said China is willing to work with different countries to use the expo as a platform to carry forward the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, and to uphold a direction of high standards, sustainability and public well-being in seeking common development and prosperity.

The expo, which has the theme of "exclusive consultation, joint contribution, shared benefits and cooperation for a shared future", also brought together heads of state and governments from other Eurasian nations, who attended the opening via video link.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the profound evolution in the global landscape, the gridlocks in international logistics and slowing of global economic growth have further underlined the key strengths of the Belt and Road Initiative.

He expressed the belief that the expo will further contribute to the development of global trade and ensure unimpeded international logistics.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that the hosting of the expo highlighted the importance of China and the Eurasian region in promoting global economic growth and enhancing economic resilience.

He said he is glad to see that Xinjiang is poised to play a dominant role in promoting China's economic integration and connectivity with neighboring countries.

Experts and business leaders have also expressed their confidence in the growing economic and trade cooperation spanning Eurasia that is underpinned by the joint construction of the Belt and Road and the healthy development of multilateral trade and investment platforms such as the expo.

"Closer economic and investment cooperation in sectors such as energy, infrastructure and industrial upgrades in Eurasia is expected to help stabilize the global energy supply and market expectations, and to push for improvements in connectivity among regions involved the Belt and Road," said Zhou Mi, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

"That will provide crucial support for industrialization and urbanization in related economies and spur innovations to enrich product and service supplies," Zhou said.

He Yanfeng, general manager of Chengdu Engineering Corp, a subsidiary of State-owned Power Construction Corp of China, said the company plans to enter more Central Asian markets to help build green power projects, after putting the Shelek wind farm — the first green energy project jointly built by China and Kazakhstan — into operation last week.

The wind farm can generate 230 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, cutting 206,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and saving the use of 89,000 tons of standard coal per year.

"The enhanced rail and road transportation networks between China and Central Asian countries will facilitate companies from both sides to expand and deepen cooperation in the areas of infrastructure, petrochemicals, agriculture and logistics in the coming years," he said.

Zhong Nan in Beijing contributed to this story.