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A major event in Sino-Russian trade, the Harbin Fair has participating businesses from across the world. Xie Guofei / for China Daily |
In a sign of its influence, all 3,000 exhibition booths for this year's China Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair were already booked in April by businesses from home and abroad, fully two months before the opening date of June 14.
"It's not just an exhibition," said Chen Dianyun, deputy director at the Council for the Promotion of International Trade in Heilongjiang province and director of the Harbin trade fair office.
"The provincial government sees it more of an opportunity to further boost reform and opening-up, as well as a means to enhance social and economic development."
The event - also widely known as the Harbin Fair - held in the northeastern industrial powerhouse of Heilongjiang province neighboring Russia, is the nation's second-biggest international trade fair, following only the Canton Fair in South China's Guangdong province.
Approved by the State Council in 1990, it is one of 28 events directly sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce.
This year's sponsors also include the National Development and Reform Commission, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the provincial governments of Heilongjiang and Zhejiang, and the city government of Harbin.
Thirteen overseas governments - both national and regional - and a number of trade promotion agencies will also give their support to the event.
The annual fair, which has been held 21 times before, is an important channel for bilateral economic ties between China and Russia, as well as the world, noted Chen.
This year's expo will have a total exhibition area of 86,000 square meters, a scale Chen described as a "breakthrough."
Specific show areas
The fair will have areas for green food, biotechnology, new materials, equipment manufacturing, economic cooperation, machinery and electronics, home decoration materials, light industry, traditional Chinese medicines, furniture, culture and tourism.
It will also have pavilions for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and for foreign countries, Chen said, noting an unprecedented number of countries will send delegations to the fair.
To date, companies and trade agencies from 23 countries - including Russia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, North Korea, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the United States, Australia, and South Africa - have reserved 366 booths. The number of participating countries increased 47 percent from the last Harbin Fair.
Nineteen regions in Russia will send a joint delegation, with their businesses reserving 138 booths.
Thailand will join in the fair for the first time with 31 booths.
Japan will also participate in the event in spite the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March. Its number of exhibition booths will be almost the same as last year's event.
76 major activities
Chen said that the five-day Harbin fair will have 76 major activities, including an opening ceremony, international and domestic business matchmaking events and business forums. It will have many new elements after the long preparation since the last year's event closed on June 19.
The China-Russia Business Forum - a traditional event at the expo - will be raised to a state-level event because the Russians will come for the first time in the name of a national delegation instead of the different regional delegations in previous sessions.
Several bilateral cooperation projects between the two countries will be discussed at the fair, Chen noted.
He also said that the fair will be more practical than ever by arranging more face-to-face business talks between Chinese and foreign companies, adding that promoting the government image is no longer the focus of the event.
He noted that the fair will highlight emerging industries including new materials, new energies and biotechnology.
Chen promised that participants will enjoy more considerate services than ever with a team of volunteers to supplement services offered by professional staff.
(China Daily 06/01/2011 page30)
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