This year's expo in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region will deepen economic and trade cooperation between China and Arab states, said experts.

The event's organizing committee said that it expects agreements with a combined value of 100 billion yuan ($16.34 billion) will be signed this year.

Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show that since its launch in 2010, the annual event has attracted more than 5,000 Chinese and overseas companies that signed 478 agreements with a combined value of 250 billion yuan .