The China International Import Expo held a roadshow in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, on July 19. The show highlighted new features and business opportunities in this year's exposition for company buyers from northwestern China.

Tang Yugang, deputy director of the provincial department of commerce, recalled the experience of Shaanxi's trade mission to the first expo last November.

"More than 3,000 people from 1,000 companies went to the expo in Shanghai last year — the largest trade mission of our province," said Tang, adding that signed were 108 trade deals topping 13.8 billion yuan.

Zhao Jianjun, general manager of Xi'an Camelar E-commerce Co., was in the provincial trade mission. His company signed to purchase 3 million yuan worth of agricultural produce, such as honey, flour and cooking oil, from exhibitors of Kazakhstan in the import expo.

"They were transported to Xi'an through the China-Europe freight train, and are selling well in our online stores on e-commerce platforms of JD, Taobao and Pinduoduo," Zhao said.

The special location of Xi'an has given business people like Zhao such advantages as logistics when trading with Central Asian countries.

The city was the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, and is among the busiest land transport hubs in the modern Belt and Road Initiative — a trade, investment, and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes.

Last year alone, the China-Europe freight train ran 1,235 trips from Xi’an to 15 countries in Central Asia and Europe, shipping off 1.2 million metric tons of goods, according to Xi'an International Trade and Logistic Park.

"The trains carry electronic products and mechanic equipment to Central Asia, and are loaded with high-quality agricultural produce on the way back," said Zhao, who is looking forward to making more Kazakh business friends at the second import expo this year.

Tang Guifa, president of The National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., who manages the exposition venue, said this year's exhibition area will be 300,000 square meters — 10 percent bigger than last year's — and the expo will have new showcases of virtual reality, augmented reality and autonomous driving.

“Alongside World's Top 500 companies, there will be around 2,000 small and medium-sized companies from Belt and Road countries at the second import expo," Tang said.

Liu Lijia, chief representative in China of world's largest building material manufacturer LafargeHolcim, said the company has secured a 260-square-meter exhibition area for this year expo and will showcase its sustainable biodiversity development solutions such as vegetation-growing concrete.

The registration for professional buyers is open until September 30. Individual buyers will need to acquire invitation code from their regional trade missions whereas companies can register without the code, according to the China International Import Expo Bureau.