Visitors attend the fifth China (Qinghai) International Halal Food and Products Fair in Qinghai, July 22, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

XINING - The fifth China (Qinghai) International Halal Food and Products Fair, the largest of its kind in China, opened Friday in the northwestern Qinghai province.

The four-day event in the provincial capital of Xining attracts more than 3,000 business people from 29 domestic provinces and autonomous regions and 28 foreign countries, according to the provincial governor Luo Huining.

The fair will be accompanied by an economic and trade cooperation forum, a purchase-consulting meeting, and folk exchanges between China and Muslim countries, Luo said, adding that 12 countries established national exhibition halls in the fair.

The deal volume of the previous four fairs amounted to $1.2 billion and saw robust annual growth, said Wan Jifei, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT).

The fair is co-hosted by Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi and Xinjiang in northwest China and the CCPIT.