On July 6 2017, the 23rd China-Lanzhou Investment and Trade Fair opened in Lanzhou. The Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Qi Xuchun attended the meeting and announced the opening. Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming accompanied to attend and address the meeting.

Qian said that Lanzhou Fair is an important platform for Gansu and Northwestern region to carry out economic cooperation and opening up. This fair aims at further integrating and serving the construction of the Belt and Road, playing the advantage of its location and passageway of Gansu, promoting international cooperation and realizing mutual benefit and win-win result. Qian pointed out that MOFCOM will regard the Belt and Road as the lead to further improve level of open economy, constantly inject new power into it and expand new room for the socio-economic development. MOFCOM will insist on promoting development and innovation through opening up, construct a market environment of equal access for all kinds of main bodies, enhance horizontal coordination and vertical linkage, promote the cooperativity of opening and development of all regions, areas and industries, push forward the coordinative development of trade and investment and organic combination between bringing in and going abroad, encourage the inland region to play second-mover advantage, profoundly participate in the construction of the Belt and Road, constantly expand the breadth and depth of opening up and create a highland of opening of interior border regions.

The opening ceremony was hosted by the Deputy Secretary of Party Committee and Governor of Gansu Tang Renjian and the welcoming address was delivered by the Secretary of Party Committee and Director General of Standing Committee of People's Congress of Gansu Lin Duo. Vice President of Nepal Nanda Bahadur Pun, the Second Minister of International Trade and Industry Ong Ka Chuan, the Secretary-General of SCO Rashid Alimov, the Deputy Director of Committee of Education, Science, Culture, Health and Sports of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and President of the Board of New Handsome Joint Group Gao Jingde and the Deputy Director of Development Research Center of the State Council Long Guoqiang attended the opening ceremony and the Forum for the Silk Road Cooperation Development and delivered speeches.

This fair was jointly held by the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, All-China Federation of the Industry and Commerce, All China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, China-ASEAN Center and the People's Government of Gansu. The fair takes "opening, exploitation, cooperation and development" as the purpose, "co-building the Belt and Road and promoting mutual benefit and win-win result" as the theme, cultivating the development of strategic emerging industries and carrying out international capacity cooperation, entrepreneurship and innovative development as the key point to enhance the trade and economic cooperation between Gansu and the countries and regions along the line of the Belt and Road by holding a series of activities such as the forums, special activities of investment and trade fair and exhibition.

Attending were the Government representatives from 36 countries and regions such as the host country Malaysia and Nepal, the ambassadors to China from the Republic of Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Lesotho, the international organizations, the domestic and foreign investment promotion organizations, the Global 500, the famous domestic and foreign enterprises, experts and scholars.