China-Arab States Expo concludes with trade and investment cooperation worth $23.4 billion

The sixth China-Arab States Expo - held in Yinchuan, the capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region - concluded on Sunday, with planned trade and investment cooperation totaling 170.97 billion yuan (about $23.4 billion), according to the expo organizer.

The four-day biennial event has seen expanded cooperation in conventional areas such as investment, trade, energy and agriculture, and fostered new growth drivers in such emerging sectors as the digital economy and health care, resulting in a total of 403 cooperation outcomes, said Lei Dongsheng, an official of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China.

In particular, as many as 218 investment projects took the lion's share - more than 90 percent - of all initiatives and amounted to 157.1 billion yuan, Lei added.

Nearly 1,000 businesses from 33 countries and regions, along with 29 Chinese provincial regions, rolled out more than 12,000 items, covering a wide range of fields, such as industry, science and technology, ecology and culture and tourism, Lei said.

Kicking off on Thursday, this year's trade fair is free to public participation for the first time, with the number of on-site visits exceeding 200,000 in less than three days, Lei said, adding that meanwhile, online exhibition services have also been provided.