After the postponement because of the Wenchuan earthquake, the 9th Western China International Fair (hereinafter referred to as the “9th WCIF”) was successfully held in Chengdu from October 27 to 31, 2008. The fair was hosted by nine central ministries and commissions including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the People’s Governments of 12 provinces (autonomous regions, municipality) in Western China and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and organized by the Sichuan Provincial People’s Government.

 

Since its establishment in 2000, WCIF has been held once a year, and has been successfully held for eight years. The 9th WCIF, which lasted for five days, closely centered on the theme of “Open West, Bright Future”, adhered to the concept of “ministerial-provincial cooperation and co-hosting, sharing and mutual benefits”, realized the goal of “starting from the west, serving the country, and facing the world”, and achieved a complete success. As of October 30, a total of 795 investment projects had been signed in the 9th WCIF, with an amount of 300.452 billion yuan; among them, there were 750 domestic-funded projects with a value of 269 billion yuan, and 45 foreign-funded projects with a value of 4.605 billion US dollars. In addition, the 1st China Sichuan Sourcing Fair also achieved a complete success; as of 10 o'clock on October 31, a cumulative amount of 48.3 billion yuan had been signed, and the project involved more than 200 products in 13 categories including mechanical and electrical, textile, chemical, and clothing.

 

This year’s WCIF has attracted dignitaries, senior officials, heads of business associations and more than 12,800 companies from 56 countries and regions from the five continents. Statistics show that the level and number of dignitaries, senior officials, and merchants attending this year’s WCIF is the highest in history, making it a regional event with the largest scale and the highest level in China.

 

The exhibition scale of this year’s WCIF has exceeded that of previous sessions, with an exhibition area of nearly 120,000 square meters. The fair has set up six major pavilions of Countries and Regions, Investment Cooperation and Counterpart Support, Automobiles, Machinery Industry, Building Materials, and Western Characteristic Industries, making it more international, regional, and professional. At the same time, a total of 48 major events, special events and series of events with rich contents have been set up.

 

The 9th WCIF not only produced good economic benefits, but was also highly praised and widely recognized by all sectors of society. In particular, the 1st Western China International Cooperation Forum reached the 2008 Chengdu Consensus, which is of great significance for advancing fully open cooperation, building a new pan-Asian transportation and logistics system, and enhancing the pan-Asian region’s ability to jointly respond to the world economic risks and its strategic position in the world economic development paradigm.

 

Although Sichuan's ecomomy has been hit after the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the success of the 9th WCIF shows to the world that Sichuan people are hospitable and grateful, and Sichuan is still safe, beautiful, and continuously developing. This year’s WCIF has received great attention and reports from mainstream media at home and abroad, and has produced strong responses at home and abroad. It has further enhanced WCIF’s role as an important platform for western cooperation, east-west cooperation, and sino-foreign cooperation; an important platform for diplomatic, investment, economic and trade cooperation in Western China; an important carrier for advancing the development of Western China and the implementation of the large-scale opening up of Western China.