Business people from home and abroad are ready to attend the 18th Harbin Fair. [Tu Lei/chinadaily.com.cn]

Expanded exhibition scale, cooperation with neighboring countries, revitalization of traditional industrial bases in Northeast China and other economic and cultural activities will be the highlights of this year's 18th China Harbin Fair for Trade and Economic Cooperation (Harbin Fair).

The fair, being held from today until June 19 at the Harbin International Conference, Exhibition and Sports Center in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, is drawing intense attention from visitors, and domestic and overseas exhibitors.

Organizing committee sources said the fair covers an area of 76,000 sq m and features 2,000 international exhibition booths.

In terms of exhibition scale, some professional pavilions will be set up to cover sectors such as organic food, the hi-tech industry, machinery and electricity, furniture and building materials, and pharmaceuticals sectors, as well as the chemical, light, textile, garment and culture industries.

There will also be pavilions for foreign countries and China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, and Taiwan Province.

Jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce, the State Council's office for the revitalization of Northeast China and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the governments of Heilongjiang Province and East China's Zhejiang Province and Harbin, this year's fair will be a more internationalized event.

Internationalized event

A total of 12 international governmental and business organizations from seven countries and regions, including Russia, Japan, the United Nations Industry Development Organization and the United Nations Development and Planning Organization, as well as the Hong Kong SAR government, are also jointly organizing the fair, helping it gain increased global attention.

Further, there will be many World Top 500 multinational corporations, professional purchasers and top domestic and overseas enterprises attending the event.

About 11,000 overseas business representatives from 80 countries and regions and 110,000 domestic representatives are expected to participate in the fair.

Such a strong presence of foreign entities shows how Harbin Fair has been upgraded from a national event to an international expo, which will further intensify its influence both at home and abroad, making coordination among related organizations much smoother and more powerful, the organizing committee said.

As the Harbin Fair adheres to the principle of viewing Russia, CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) nations and East European countries as its main partners, this year's event will help to further promote business and trade ties with them.

Furthermore, fair organizers have also paid attention to inviting businesses from Japan, the Republic of Korea and Mongolia, as well as from countries in Southeast Asia, the European Union, North America and Oceania.

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