URUMQI, July 5 (Xinhua) — Xinjiang in northwest China is seeing increased vitality across the board as the region accelerates efforts to build core areas of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) through broader opening-up.
The 2025 (China) Eurasia Commodity and Trade Expo recently concluded in Urumqi, the regional capital. The five-day fair was one of the latest examples of Xinjiang’s increasingly open and dynamic development, attended by 1,800 exhibitors from 50 countries and regions, including first-time exhibitors from four countries in Africa: Ethiopia, Zambia, Comoros and Senegal.
A vast region that borders Central Asian countries, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has enhanced its connectivity with the world significantly in recent years, boosting mutually beneficial cooperation and people-to-people exchange, driven by the BRI.
In addition to the dozens of freight trains that enter and exit Xinjiang on average each day, the region’s air transport is expanding rapidly. In the first half of this year, seven new international charter cargo flight routes were opened between Urumqi and foreign cities such as Istanbul, Belgrade and Addis Ababa, raising the region’s total number of international air freight routes to 26, according to Xinjiang Airport Group. In the first five months of this year, the number of air routes the company operates increased by 115, or 26.5 percent year on year.
Xinjiang is accelerating its development of 10 industrial clusters, in fields including oil-and-gas production and processing, advanced manufacturing, new materials, cotton and textiles, culture and tourism, and modern logistics. These industries play a vital role in sustaining the region’s high-quality growth and creating jobs.
Its broader opening-up can also be seen through the rapid increase in the number of enterprises in the Xinjiang Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), which was inaugurated in November 2023. Pilot FTZs are a landmark feature of China’s high-standard opening-up.
As of May this year, more than 15,000 enterprises have been established in the pilot FTZ, and there are now 1.5 times more foreign-invested enterprises than there were when the FTZ opened for business, according to statistics from the regional department of commerce. The Xinjiang pilot FTZ is now home to more than 40,000 enterprises.
Despite global uncertainties and false accusations launched against the region, Xinjiang’s foreign trade has maintained rapid growth in recent years, reaping 22.9 percent year-on-year growth in the first five months of 2025.
Xinjiang’s attractiveness has also been strengthened through a number of international events held in the region in such fields as sports and the arts. Event participants, businesspeople and tourists traveling to Xinjiang find themselves deeply impressed by the beauty of its landscape, the diversity of its culture, the hospitality of its locals, and its remarkable development.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The region will surely become more confident, vibrant and prosperous as it joins with the whole nation in pushing modernization forward while delivering more opportunities for win-win cooperation with the world. ■
