This aerial photo taken on Aug 19, 2021 shows the main venue of the fifth China-Arab States Expo in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

YINCHUAN - The sixth China-Arab States Expo opened Thursday in Yinchuan, the capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

The four-day event draws the participation of guests from more than 50 countries such as Saudi Arabia and Mauritania.

China is now the Arab states' largest trading partner. China-Arab trade volume almost doubled from the 2012 level to $431.4 billion last year

This year's expo features trade fairs and forums on trade and investment, modern agriculture, cross-border trade, cultural tourism, health, water resources utilization, and meteorological cooperation.

The offline exhibition area at the expo is nearly 40,000 square meters, and more than 1,000 domestic and foreign enterprises have participated in the exhibition.

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First held in 2013, the China-Arab States Expo has become an important platform for China and Arab states to promote pragmatic cooperation and advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

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Sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and Ningxia regional government, the expo, over the past ten years, has attracted over 400,000 participants and 6,000 enterprises from 112 countries and regions, who signed more than 1,200 cooperation projects in areas such as modern agriculture, high technologies, and biomedicine.

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China is now the Arab states' largest trading partner. China-Arab trade volume almost doubled from the 2012 level to $431.4 billion last year. In the first half of this year, trade between China and the Arab states reached $199.9 billion.