Fresh Food: Customers look at the local food specialties from Shaanxi Province on display during the 2011 ITFCEW in the Shaanxi Pavilion (KOU QING)

Bringing its less developed western regions up to speed with the developed east coastal provinces has become a priority for China and an integral part of the country's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15). The 15th Investment and Trade Forum for Cooperation Between East and West China (ITFCEW), an annual event dedicated to promoting east-west economic cooperation, was held in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, from April 6 to 10, attracting more than 150,000 exhibitors, including 5,700 foreigners.

Since 2011 marks the beginning of the 12th Five-Year Plan and also the starting year of the second decade of the Western Development Strategy, this year's ITFCEW was particularly important in promoting east-west cooperation and balancing regional development, said Zhao Zhengyong, Governor of Shaanxi Province, at the opening ceremony.

Activities

The 2011 ITFCEW was themed on deepening regional cooperation and promoting greater development in west China, with investment negotiations and commodities trading as the main activities, and investment cooperation and industrial transfer being the focus.

Exhibitions were a centerpiece of the ITFCEW, with 3,500 booths covering a total area of 100,000 square meters. Exhibitions were divided into 10 pavilions—pavilions for provinces, emerging industry, international trade, small and medium-sized enterprises and private economy, energy conservation and environmental protection, and urbanization construction—each designed for a specific interest group.

This year's ITFCEW also included four key conferences and 48 investment and trade activities. Conferences held addressed cooperation between east and west China, developing the Guanzhong (Shaanxi Province)-Tianshui (Gansu Province) Economic Zone, and inter-provincial economic cooperation and exchanges. The 10th China Western Regional International Economic Cooperation Fair was also included in the mix.

Differing from the convention of the previous 14 years where one province (autonomous region or municipality) was the sole host, this year's ITFCEW initiated a dual-host practice, choosing one province from the east and one province (autonomous region or municipality) from the west to jointly host the proceedings. West China includes Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai provinces; Tibet, Guangxi Zhuang, Ningxia Hui, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions; and Chongqing Municipality. This year Gansu and east coastal Zhejiang Province co-hosted the event.

Attractions

Statistics from the 2011 ITFCEW showed foreign investment contracts totaled $10.18 billion, surging 46.3 percent year on year, and domestic joint project contracts involved investments of 571.43 billion yuan ($87.1 billion), up 14.7 percent year on year.

Small and medium-sized foreign companies didn't miss out on opportunities at the 2011 ITFCEW to gain access to the huge market of west China.

"We're very interested in not only the developed cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, but also cities like Xi'an in Shaanxi Province," said Nathan McKinlay, International Business Manager of New Image House, a health care product manufacturer based in New Zealand, who had a stall in the international trade pavilion designed for foreign exhibitors from around the world. "We know Xi'an is growing quickly, so we think it's a good market for our products."

"We came to Xi'an because we are confident in the local market as well and we want to uncover its potential," said Wang Zhaokai, a sales representative at the Chengdu branch of the South Korea-based Cuckoo Electronic Co. Ltd. Wang said the electronic cookers the company produces, although relatively expensive, have been popular in big cities and east coastal regions.