Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Au- tonomos Region is strengthening cooperation with the Arab countries against the backdrop of China’s deepening opening to the west.

The China (Ningxia) International Investment and Trade Fair and the 3rd China-Arab States Economic and Trade Forum was held from Sept. 12 to 16 in Yinchuan， the region’s capital， highlights the point.

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang， and foreign leaders including President of Central Africa Francois Bozize， President of Micronesia Emanuel Mori and Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Michael Thomas Somare attended the opening ceremony.

“China and Arab states enjoy broad prospects for cooperation and the two sides need to expand the scale and upgrade the level of their cooperation，” Li was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

“China is a stable market for products from Arab countries. The Chinese side is encouraging its companies to engage in manufacturing sector and infrastructure construction in Arab countries，” he added.

Li called on China and Arab countries to expand cooperation in finance， oil and gas and renewable energy.

Since ancient times， Ningxia has been a bridge between China and Arab states which are connected by the Silk Road. Entering the new century， the Sino-Arab relations have seen a strong momentum of development. The exchanges of two sides in various areas are continuously expanding， among which， the economic and trade cooperation is the most active element.

Data shows that Sino-Arab trade volume surged to $195.9 billion， up 34.7 percent year on year in 2011. The Arab states have become China’s seventh largest trade partner.

Bozize said Central Africa and China enjoy a broad prospect of bilateral relations.“The two sides are expected to enhance cooperation in all fields and speed up pragmatic cooperation in agriculture， infrastructure construction and mineral resources， and therefore

to further promote the development of bilateral relations，”he said.

Now Ningxia is developing at fast pace in its golden period. The 12th Five-Year Plan has seen a good beginning in Ningxia. In 2011， the GDP of Ningxia reached RMB 206 billion， up 12 percent over the previous year.

According to Li， the Chinese government has recently approved the establishment of a new economic inland pilot zone in Ningxia and a comprehensive bonded area in Yinchuan， through which the Silk Road traversed. The pilot zone and bonded area are aimed at boosting the country’s domestic demand and deepening the opening-up of China’s western inland area， Xinhua reported.

“While further opening the coastal regions to the east， China will also boost its opening to the west at the same time， and special economic zones， pilot zones and key border ports are being established to serve as vanguard，” he explained.

Li said opening to the west is a significant part of China’s all-round opening up policy and China is speeding up construction of a number of bridgeheads for opening to the west in Western China.

As the country’s only provincial-level autonomous region for the Hui ethnic group， the Hui people accounted for over one third of the region’s population. The Muslims in the region and those in the Arab countries are closely related with same religious belief and similar customs. Therefore， Ningxia enjoys unique advantages in building a Sino-Arab cooperation platform.

“The approval of the pilot zone is to give Ningxia innovation space in terms of policies and encourage Ningxia to try first. The region， with the impetus of innovation， will absorb successful experience from the coastal areas and try to pave a new way of the inland area’s opening up，” said Wang Zhengwei， chairman of Ningxia.

According to Wang， Ningxia is to accelerate the construction of the Yuehaiwan Central Business District， the consulates area， the perpetual site of the China-Arab States Economic and Trade Forum， and other landmark buildings. Also， Ningxia aims to build a Muslim financial center by establishing the bonded area and the exchanges of major international commodities and halal products. Meanwhile， Ningxia is to strengthen cooperation with Arab countries in key areas like energy， goods trade， service trade， investment， culture and tourism by means of efficient and flexible open policies and pragmatic approaches to cooperation.

Sino-Arab investment has expanded from oil and light industry to mechanical manufacturing and auto assembly. Cooperations among service factors such as finance， tourism and aviation have also been enriched with many achievements， said Qiu Hong， China’s assistant minister of commerce.

The annual state-level event is jointly sponsored by China’s Ministry of Commerce， the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade， and the government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The event attracted more than 7，000 domestic and overseas officials， exhibitors， purchasers and investors from 71 countries and districts， including Libya， Jordan， Iraq， Qatar and other developing countries such as Thailand and Malaysia， according to the organizing committee. The scale and level of this year have been further enhanced， compared with the previous sessions.

With the theme of “deepen cooperation and seek for common development，” the forum incorporates 31 parts， including a trade fair， seminars on energy， agriculture， business， finance， infrastructure， halal and cultural exchanges， and Arabic ethnic performances.

The event first adopted the mechanism of “the guest country of honor”. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) became this year’s guest country of honor and brought a delegation of 113 members， a 78-member government delegation and a woman’s soccer delegation.

The number of the contracts signed at the forum reached 124， with the total investment of RMB 218.7 billion. The projects include high-tech， energy， chemical industry， modern agriculture， infrastructure， logistics， culture and tourism. Among them， the deals worth over RMB 100 million account for 92 percent.