China urges Eurasian stability

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao addressed an international fair on Sunday with a call for Eurasian countries to maintain stability and further open their markets to promote common development.

"The Eurasian continent is one of the most promising regions in the world in terms of consumption and investment," Wen said at the opening ceremony of the second China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi, capital of China's westernmost Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. "As long as we open our markets to each other and draw on each other's strengths, we can develop long and stable cooperation."

He urged Eurasian countries to deepen cooperation in customs, quality inspection, e-commerce, transit transport, standard certification and intellectual property rights, facilitate a free flow of personnel, goods, capital, technology and services within the region, and jointly resist trade protectionism.

In his keynote speech, the premier urged Eurasian countries to maintain a peaceful and stable environment.

"Nothing could be achieved without a peaceful and stable environment," Wen said, reiterating China's belief that regional affairs should be determined by countries and peoples of this region.

"China opposes outside intervention," he added.

In his speech to an audience of leaders from eight countries and expo participants from 55 countries and regions, Wen also urged cooperation in cross-border infrastructure construction to accelerate the connectivity process and to deepen culture and people-to-people exchanges.

The expo, a six-day international fair under the theme of "harmonious development, win-win cooperation," aims to fast-track economic cooperation at the heart of Eurasia.

Foreign leaders attending the expo include President of Kyrgystan Almazbek Atambayev, President of the Maldives Mohammed Waheed Hassan, Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov, Prime Minister of Tajikistan Akil Akilov, Second Vice President of Afghanistan Mohammad Khalili and Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Ali Babacan, according to China's Foreign Ministry.

Chen Deming, China's minister of commerce, said at the opening ceremony that the expo, a platform to promote economic development and common prosperity, is becoming increasingly important against the backdrop of the spreading international financial crisis and mounting downward pressure on the economy.

The expo will strengthen China's exchange and cooperation with Central, West and South Asia and even Europe, facilitating the coordinated development of the regional economy, the minister predicted.

Xinjiang, which has been leading China's latest opening-up drive, fortified a "bridgehead" for the country's economic and trade ties with Eurasian nations.

"Xinjiang is speeding up reforms and opening-up," said Zhang Chunxian, secretary of the Xinjiang regional committee of the Communist Party of China, at the opening ceremony. "We are upgrading our capabilities to serve Eurasian countries."

The expo was upgraded from a regional trade fair, the 19-year-old China Urumqi Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Fair, in September 2011, when the first expo was held.

The previous event witnessed the signing of 178 contracts under which domestic enterprises would invest in Xinjiang with a total value of 185 billion yuan (29.14 billion U.S. dollars), as well as 5.5 billion U.S. dollars in foreign trade contracts, according to the organizers.