The Tianjin Pilot Free Trade Zone area at the China Tianjin Investment and Trade Fair. [Photo/people.cn]

People visit the China Tianjin Investment and Trade Fair. [Photo/people.cn]

The China Tianjin Investment and Trade Fair closed on May 19 with great results. The volume of transactions from contracts reached 22.6 billion yuan ($3.64 billion), and the volume of transactions from products reached 850 million yuan ($136.94 million). Employers successfully hired 300 PhDs and 1,260 senior profressionals.

The total number of booths reached 2,800. Around 8,000 corporations from up to 12 countries and regions exhibited.

The integrated development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, the launch of Tianjin Pilot Free Trade Zone (Tianjin FTZ), and the Belt and Road Initiative made the fair a focus of the entire country.

The number of participating countries and regions achieved record high. Canada, Italy, Korea, and Japan exhibited at the fair as a group for the first time. A total of 200 overseas corporations participated, including 34 from Thailand.

A total of 23 provinces, autonomous regions, and provincial cities and 11 cities exhibited at the fair. All provinces and provincial cities from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Bohai Sea regions exhibited at the fair. The total area of the exhibition area of Shanxi province reached 2,000 square meters. Nearly a hundred corporations from Shanxi had exhibits.

The information session on Tianjin FTZ attracted 800 participants, and the electronic commerce panel attracted 1,000 participants.

The fair had outstanding results in attracting investment. Tianjin and other provinces launched 2,000 investment attracting projects, more than 640 of which found investors. The projects covered industries including railway transportation, logistics of electronic commerce, new energy, advanced manufacturing, business and commerce, tourism, and financial services.

Baiyin city in Gansu province signed several projects with Global 500 companies. Urumchi reached agreement on projects in agricultural product purchase and environmental protection worth around 182 million yuan ($29.34 million) of transaction volume. Heping District of Tianjin reached agreement on projects in finance, business, and economy worth around 11.5 billion yuan ($1.85 billion).

Tens of thousands of products were exhibited in special area for Chinese Time-Honored Brands, traditional Chinese products, and imported and exported products. Food, cosmetics, and light industrial goods from Russia, Indonesia, Japan, and Korea sold well. Investors and importers from Canada, Italy, and Korea expressed their interests into projects of Tianjin.

There were more than 320,000 visitors and on-site retail volume was over 40 million yuan ($6.45 million), 100 percent more than the previous fair. The tourism featuring business such as urban area trip, Binhai New Area trip, and industrial trip contributed to the increasing number of visitors to business circles and tourism attractions. The fair drove the development of surrounding transportation, catering, accommodation, and retail business.