Vice Premier Li Keqiang, leaders of central and south Asia, including Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, are confirmed to attend the first China-Eurasia Expo in the northwestern Chinese city of Urumqi this week, a Chinese official said.

The vice premier is expected to announce the opening of the expo on Thursday, said Li Jingyuan, secretary of the executive committee of the expo, at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Foreign leaders who have confirmed their attendance include interim Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Asset Issekeshev, and Azerbaijan's Vice Premier Abid Sharifov, Li said.

The five-day China-Eurasia Expo was upgraded from a regional trade fair, the 19-year-old China Urumqi Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Fair, last year. Organizers said the upgrade will make Urumqi an important exchange platform for leaders and businessmen of China and its western and southern Asian neighbors, such as Russia, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan.

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