On the afternoon of July 9, 2026, a refreshing breeze swept across the banks of the Yellow River. Inside the Gansu International Convention and Exhibition Center, numerous guests gathered amid vibrant business negotiations as the 32nd China Lanzhou Investment and Trade Fair opened as scheduled. A vital economic and trade exchange platform for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, this year’s fair embodies Gansu’s resolute drive to transform itself from an inland hinterland into a frontier of westward opening-up through pragmatic actions. A grand picture of opening-up featuring domestic-international connectivity and integrated industry and trade is unfolding gradually.

This year’s Lanzhou Fair, closely adhering to the theme “New Opportunities for Pragmatic Cooperation, New Vision for Open Development,” was firmly anchored in the Belt and Road Initiative and fully leveraged Gansu’s strategic corridor advantages in connecting the East and West while radiating into Central Asia. With a total exhibition area of 54,000 square meters, the Fair featured five distinctive zones: Silk Road International Cooperation, Domestic Regional Exchange, Municipal and Prefectural Advantageous Industries, Foreign Trade Quality Products, and Gansu Flavors Specialty. It invited overseas business delegations from multiple countries, key provincial delegations from across China, and leading local enterprises to participate. Exhibits spanned key sectors such as new energy, new materials, modern agriculture, high-end equipment manufacturing, cultural tourism and wellness, and cross-border trade, showcasing distinctive features of significantly enhanced internationalization, precise alignment between industrial chain supply and demand, and an increasingly robust atmosphere of two way opening up.

On the first floor, in the Silk Road International Cooperation Exhibition Zone, the pavilions of the Republic of Korea and Pakistan—the dual guest countries of honor—were positioned in prominent central locations. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan. The Pakistan pavilion specially featured a historical and cultural display wall showcasing bilateral friendly exchanges, and 18 local enterprises brought distinctive handicrafts such as handmade copperware and celadon jade carvings. These exquisite exhibits attracted buyers from various regions who stopped to inquire, negotiate, and place orders. The ROK pavilion, built around the theme of "Innovation and Win Win Cooperation," presented a display that highlighted beauty and daily chemical products, functional health foods, and smart home products. The negotiation and exchange activities at both pavilions remained vibrant throughout, serving as important platforms for connecting the China Pakistan Economic Corridor and deepening economic and trade cooperation between China and South Korea.

On the second floor, the industrial pavilions of Gansu’s 14 cities and prefectures presented a vivid panorama of “Gansu products going global and industries vitalizing Gansu.” In the Lanzhou pavilion, time-honored local pharmaceutical brands including Foci Pharmaceutical and Heshengtang are showcased alongside electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft and humanoid intelligent robots. The complementary display of traditional characteristic industries and cutting-edge high-end equipment industries illustrates Gansu’s two core strengths for Belt and Road industrial capacity cooperation: distinctive modern agriculture and advanced equipment manufacturing. The Tianshui pavilion leveraged a dynamic water curtain to vividly interpret the regional culture of “Tianhe Water Pouring” (the legendary origin of the city’s name), highlighting its integrated circuit packaging and testing industry and the export oriented specialty fruit industry chain. The Jiuquan pavilion used naked eye 3D technology to present a panoramic display of wind power, photovoltaic new energy, and aerospace science and innovation achievements, attracting numerous Central Asian business representatives who stopped to inquire and seek cooperation.

In the authentic “Ganwei” (Gansu Flavors) specialty exhibition zone, a dazzling array of high quality agricultural and livestock products, genuine Chinese medicinal herbs, and Silk Road themed cultural and creative goods was on display. Leveraging the Lanzhou Fair as a national level opening up platform, an increasing number of specialty products once hidden in the mountains and countryside of Gansu are now reaching beyond local villages, expanding across the country, and selling overseas, becoming the most recognizable and striking calling card of Gansu’s opening?up to the outside world.

From the ancient Silk Road trade routes to the digital connectivity corridors, and from single commodity exhibitions to deep collaboration across entire industrial chains, the 32nd Lanzhou Fair is continuing to write a new chapter in Gansu's deep integration into the Belt and Road Initiative. A Pakistani merchant voiced the sentiments of many overseas exhibitors: "This is not just a platform for displaying and trading goods; it is also a commercial starting point that connects Central Asia and leads to Europe."

The Yellow River flows ceaselessly, and the pace of opening up never stops. Rooted in Lanzhou and reaching out to the world, the Lanzhou Fair will continue to unlock the potential of the Silk Road corridor, join hands with all partners to seize new opportunities for cooperation, and jointly build a new highland for inland opening up.