| Trade fair draws record number of entries |
|
| Wednesday,October 04,2006 Posted: 02:36 BJT(1836 GMT) ChinaDaily |
The China Export Commodities Fair, once the only major window for Chinese products to the outside world, will hold its 100th session in mid-October in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.
"The 100th session will be the largest in the fair's history and senior Chinese leaders will be around for the grand ceremony marking the important event," said Gao Hucheng, vice minister of commerce.
The 15-day fair will have 31,408 standard booths with more than 14,000 businesses expected to participate - a record high.
Also, for the first time, a special area will be given to export products of Chinese brands, highlighting the growing awareness in the country of the importance of brand products for competing in international markets.
"The fair has contributed a lot to the development of Chinese economy, and the Chinese government will continue to render strong support to the fair, despite China's access to the World Trade Organization," Gao said, noting that transactions of the biannual fair account for about one-fourth of China's general export trade every year.
China encouraged its enterprises to invest abroad, but the fair stills serves as an important platform to export products of small- and medium-sized Chinese businesses, he said.
In April, the 99th China Export Commodities Fair closed with deals touching a record high of US$32.2 billion, up 9.5 percent over the previous session.
The 12-day fair attracted more than 190,000 businessmen from 211 countries and regions.
Businessmen from the European Union spent US$10.6 billion, while those from the United States sealed deals worth US$4.7 billion. Buyers from the Middle East bought US$4.28 billion worth of goods.
In the early sessions of the fair, buyers were mainly from Hong Kong and Macau, and the products exhibited were mostly farm produce and handicraft.
Official data indicated that in its first session in 1957, the fair had only about 9,600 square meters of exhibition space, attracting only 1,223 overseas buyers.
"The fair has grown largely due to the Chinese government's strong support and the fair's quality orientation," said Gao.
|
Bilateral Visits
