Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, addresses the opening ceremony of the China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Aug. 30, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhao Ge)

URUMQI, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The sixth China-Eurasia Expo, a three-day international fair, opened Thursday in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Under the theme of "The Belt and Road -- Wide Discussion, Joint Contribution and Shared Benefits", the expo drew participants from more than 700 domestic and foreign companies.

The exhibition area covered 70,000 square meters, with various display zones involving investment and cooperation, poverty alleviation, and featured products.

Since China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, China has deepened pragmatic cooperation with other countries under the framework of the initiative, yielding substantial achievements, Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua said at the opening ceremony.

Hu said that China is willing to expand areas of cooperation with other countries, create new trade growth points, enhance investment and industrial cooperation, and speed up interconnectivity networks through the projects in railways, highways, ports, energy, and telecom.

China will unswervingly deepen reform in all areas, expand opening-up, improve trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, said Hu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Hu encouraged enterprises in Asian and European countries to seize the opportunity and work together with their Chinese counterparts to develop more extensive and in-depth cooperation.

He voiced the central government's support for Xinjiang to open wider to outside world and play a bigger role in China's opening up.

The China-Eurasia Expo, which serves as an important platform for exchanges and cooperation between different countries and regions, will conclude Saturday.

The fifth expo saw a total of 18 billion U.S. dollars worth of contracts signed.