With the central government's pledge to upgrade the annual trade fair here to a country-level political and economic platform, Xinjiang is stepping up its efforts to establish itself as a leader in trade between China and its western neighboring countries.

"It will speed up Xinjiang's bid to become China's window facing the west," said Nur Bekri, chairman of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region government.

The annual China Urumqi Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Fair (Urumqi Fair) will be expanded to the China-Eurasia Fair beginning next year.

As a landlocked region, Xinjiang has long looked toward the west, in places such as Central and Western Asia, for foreign trade and investment opportunities. And in 2011, Xinjiang is due to receive even stronger support from the central government for its ambition.

Next year's China-Eurasia Fair will be co-hosted by China's Ministry of Commerce, according to the fair's organizing committee.

Chen Deming, minister of commerce, is one of the directors on the committee.

The China-Eurasia Fair will extend into diplomatic and cultural issues, including discussions between heads of states, forums at the ministerial level, trade and investment talks as well as cultural exchanges, according to the organizing committee.

Taking their cue from the fair's upgrade, newcomers have flocked to this year's Urumqi Fair for potential business opportunities.

"We plan to use Xinjiang as a base to expand our business to other parts of the mainland," said Yu Hainan, executive director of the Taipei-based Deva Photonics Corp, which manufactures energy-saving street lights.

For Dr Alireza Omidbakhsh, a sales manager of the Tehran-based Technopanco Inc, which produces and supplies saffron, his first visit to the Urumqi Fair also looked promising after his company attracted the interest of a Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturer.

(China Daily September 3, 2010)