The prospect of opening-up in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is not a cause for concern, a local official said on Friday, after foreign media cast doubt about its pace.
It is claimed that while Xinjiang has fully reopened along with the rest of China amid COVID-19, local epidemic situations in earlier months exposed immense pressure on the region's efforts to avert inbound infections, causing speculations that the prospect of Xinjiang's opening-up would be affected, Xinjiang's regional government spokesperson Xu Guixiang said at a press conference in Beijing.
Such worries are totally unnecessary, he said.
As a region that enjoys exceptional geographical advantages and faces a rare historical opportunity, Xinjiang's opening-up campaign has made fruitful, hefty accomplishments in recent years, he noted.
The region has signed 21 cooperation agreements with 25 countries and international organizations, established trade relations with 176 countries and regions and formed close friendships with 45 cities globally.
From January to October 2022, the total volume of Xinjiang's foreign trade was 194.79 billion yuan ($28.09 billion). It reached a year-on-year increase of 60.3 percent, which was 50.8 percentage points higher than the national growth rate and ranked first in the country.
Xu said Xinjiang will further expand the scope and depth of its opening-up campaign.
