A delegation from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region reached deals valued at nearly 100 million yuan ($16.12 million) at the 73th Pharm China – a national medicine fair held in Shanghai – on May 15.

It was the region’s 14th time to attend the annual Pharm China event. 11 representatives from the region’s pharmaceutical enterprises displayed their products at the event.

Thanks to its special geographical location and climate, Xinjiang is rich in natural medical resources such as liquorice and ephedra – the two highest ranking medical herbs in China in terms of yields and sales volumes.

Gu Zheng, head of the Xinjiang Medical Research Association, said that the region has more than 1,200 species of plants and herbs used for medicinal purposes, attributing a great deal to the region’s advantages in biomedicine resources and markets.

The Urumqi State High-tech Industrial Zone, a major force for the region’s industrialization, has been putting priority on the biomedicine industry by releasing preferential policies, setting up innovation foundations and carrying out scientific plans. The zone has attracted a great number of biomedicine enterprises, accounting for 95 percent of the region’s total number of such companies. The zone’s output value of biomedicine companies accounts for 80 percent of the entire region.