The 18th Urumqi Trade Fair is to open. Over the past 17 years, Urumqi Trade Fair has become more mature. And it also brings more development opportunities for XJ's economy, and quickens the progress of XJ as the crossroad for China's opening up toward the Central Asian countries.

SONG JUN, PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER:

"The pictures of the 1st Urumqi Trade Fair that I shot were black-and-white photos. This was shot at the opening ceremony in XJ People's Hall. This was the booth of XJ delegation, the scale was small, so it can be shown in one picture. While till 2002, the scale of XJ delegation became much larger, and there were more and higher grade exhibits. National song and dance performances and products with national features can also be seen at the fair. In that year, XJ delegation had attracted many foreign businessmen."

With the booming of Urumqi Trade Fair, the fund released from the government also decreased year by year from 9 mln yuan in the 1st session. Since 2001, the trade fair had realized market-oriented operation.

In 2008,Urumqi Fair was known as an international economic and trade gala, with a great deal of influence throughout west China and Central and West Asia. Seeing the great potential of the fair, the Ministry of Commerce upgraded it into a national-level exhibition.

Since the 1st Urumqi Trade Fair was held in 1992, it has been attracting more than 100,000 businessmen from over 10,000 enterprises from more than 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China and 30,000 businessmen from more than 70 countries and regions in the world to take part in it. The foreign trade business volume accumulated to 28.197 bln USD, while the domestic trade and economic business volume reached 741.2 bln yuan. At the coming 18th Urumqi Trade Fair Member States will hold an investment summit for the first time.