Shanxi Week, with a theme of "Future Energy, Green Shanxi", was inaugurated in the China Pavilion of the 2017 Astana Expo on July 7.

Vice-chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) Wang Jinzhen, Vice-governor of Shanxi province Wang Yixin, Business Counselor to the Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Sun Piwen, Governor of Pavlodar Region Bulat Bakauov, and Kazakhstan Vice Minister of Agriculture Gulmira Issayeva attended the opening ceremony and gave speeches.

Nearly 200 people, including leading officials of the Astana Expo organizing committee, government representatives of some national pavilions, and representatives of Shanxi government and enterprises, were also in attendance.

Shanxi Week is expected to highlight cooperation in international production capacity and equipment manufacturing. Related activities will be held from July 1 till July 11, including a Shanxi brand Silk Road tour, an international cooperation fair, a new energy and technology exhibition, a Shanxi tourism fair and a series of other activities. They are intended to make full use of the expo platform to show Shanxi to the world, and to further expand exchanges and cooperation with Kazakhstan and other neighboring countries.

Wang Jinzhen said at the ceremony that this year is the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Kazakhstan, and is also the year of tourism to China and the "expo year" of Kazakhstan.

In June, Chinese President Xi and Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev visited the China Pavilion, and agreed on new requirements in the comprehensive development of the two countries’ relations. The launch of Shanxi Week in the China Pavilion is an implementation of those requirements. The expo provides a good foundation and great opportunity for the development of China’s economy and trade relations with Kazakhstan and other countries.

Shanxi is an important industrial base and a new type of comprehensive energy base in China. It has an advanced industrial system with a complete chain and industrial superiority, especially in coal, coke, electricity and metallurgy. Shanxi and Kazakhstan have great potential for cooperation in capital, technology, resources, market and other aspects. With cultural exchanges as the basis, economic and trade cooperation as the guidance, and capacity cooperation as a breakthrough, Shanxi is willing to strengthen cooperation with Kazakhstan and countries along the "Belt and Road Initiative", Wang Yixin said.

Sun Piwen stated that China and Kazakhstan have made great efforts in promoting bilateral cooperation in the past 25 years, and the good neighborly and friendly relations between the two sides have grown rapidly. In recent years, Shanxi has actively implemented a "going out" strategy, and cooperated in various ways with Pavlodar, Karaganda and East Kazakhstan. It has made significant contributions especially in promoting clean coal utilization, new energy development and infrastructure construction.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," said Bulat, citing a famous Chinese saying.

For him, Shanxi and Pavlodar have similar economic systems, which is conducive to cooperation. Last year, a delegation from Shanxi visited Pavlodar, the first step towards full cooperation. Now, as Shanxi Week is held in the China Pavilion, cooperation between the two sides has stepped forward once again.

Pavlodar, Gulmira stated, not only has a complete industrial system, but is also well developed in agriculture and animal husbandry. Farming, especially of wheat, occupies a leading position in Kazakhstan. The country’s Ministry of Agriculture is keen to promote the export of green, organic agricultural products to China, hoping to deepen cooperation in agriculture between the two sides.