Foreign Ministry hosts event attended by foreign diplomats which introduced region's unique role in Belt and Road Initiative

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday that he hopes diplomatic envoys and companies from various countries will communicate and cooperate more with the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, an important stop on the Belt and Road Initiative.

Wang made the remarks at an event held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to attract business and investment to Ningxia. Products and artifacts from the region, including food, wine, musical instruments and Arabic calligraphy, were displayed outside the ministry's Blue Hall.

The event, "An Open China: From Ningxia to the World", gathered a number of participants, including foreign envoys, and was the first of a series of events the ministry planned to present Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions to the international community.

Wang said Ningxia, a "highly distinctive" provincial-level administrative region, has become "a new name card" for China's opening up, as the Belt and Road Initiative is being pushed forward on a comprehensive scale.

"I hope today's presentation will enable diplomatic envoys from various countries to get to know more about a real, vigorous and promising Ningxia," he said.

Located in the hinterland of Northwest China, with the Yellow River running across it and abundant sunshine, Ningxia boasts fertile plains that are perfect for agriculture.

According to Liu Hui, chairman of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, typical produce includes wolfberry, liquorice, halal beef and lamb and quality wine.

The eastern foot of Helan Mountains in Ningxia has 184 vineyards and an annual wine production of 95,000 tons, Liu said.

Since 2010, the autonomous region, home to different ethnic groups, including Hui and Han, has hosted the China-Arab States Economic and Trade Forum three times and the China- Arab States Expo twice.

Addressing the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo in January, President Xi Jinping said that the second China-Arab States Expo held in 2015 witnessed the signing of cooperation projects worth 183 billion yuan ($27.93 billion), and became an important platform for China and Arab countries to work together to build the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Liu, the chairman, invited companies and individuals to invest in Ningxia in various sectors, including chemicals, agricultural processing and information technology.

Li Jianhua, Party chief of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, said: "We welcome companies from around the world to invest in Ningxia. We will provide good services and legal assurances to every investor."

John Mckinnon, New Zealand Ambassador to China, who attended the presentation, said he is interested in Ningxia's wine industry as well as animal husbandry and agriculture.

He said that Marlborough, a wine growing region in his country, has "started to have some links with Ningxia".

"There are some similarities between some of the activities there (in Ningxia) and we are doing in New Zealand, and we are always interested in looking at parts of China away from the coast," he said.

Brahim Boudani, economic counselor of the Moroccan embassy in China, said he was interested in the event because it strengthened relations between Morocco and China as well as ties between China and the Arab world.

He said there is potential for Ningxia to cooperate with Morocco in areas the country focuses on, including the automotive industry, electronics, textile and agriculture.

"We are ready to cooperate with any region in China as long as that contributes to the strengthening of relations between the two countries," said Boudani.

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