Some 8,800 business representatives attended 103 investment matchmaking events during last year's expo and negotiated on more than 45,000 projects. Provided to China Daily

The China-Northeast Asia Expo, or CNEA, is now a crucial opportunity for companies and governments to promote increased economic and trade ties in the region, said local officials in Jilin province.

The ninth session of the CNEA expo will kick off on Sept 6 in Changchun, Jilin's capital city, which is the permanent home to the international event.

According to its organizing committee, more than 2,100 exhibition booths had been rented by early June, some 87 percent of the total. Only 8 percent of the booths for overseas exhibitors remained available at that time.

Begun in 2005, the annual event is sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and Jilin provincial government.

It is the only expo in the world that includes all Northeast Asian countries including China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia and the east Siberian region of Russia.

A group of high-ranking officials, leading experts and business leaders from both home and abroad have highly praised the previous eight sessions.

Vice-Minister of Commerce Chen Jian said at a news conference for this year's expo in April that "the China-Northeast Asia Expo is an important measure that the Chinese government made in strengthening communication and cooperation in business, investment, culture, education and tourism in the region".

As one of the organizers, Chen noted, the Ministry of Commerce will firmly support the expo and also hopes other Northeast Asian members can make full use of it to counter challenges for economic growth.

Zhou Jianping, a senior official at the NDRC, told the news conference that some 400,000 business representatives from more than 100 countries and regions participated in the past eight sessions, signing agreements for a total of 1,800 projects.

Overseas capital exceeding 900 billion yuan ($146.4 billion) was invested in China's northeast area in the history of the expo.

Strong engine

It is now considered a strong engine vitalizing the region's industries and enhancing the level of opening-up, he noted.

According to Chen Weigen, deputy governor of Jilin, the expo was approved by the State Council as a State-level event in September last year.

"This means it has turned into a gateway for China instead of just Jilin, linking five members in the region in expanding cooperation through bilateral and multilateral communications," Chen said.

"It can also help other countries to share in the achievements resulting from cooperation among Northeast Asian countries," Chen added.

Zhang Yunling, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the expo now has a higher level and bigger scale than before.

He said China is the leading economic powerhouse in Asia, itself one of the regions in the world with the fastest economic growth and greatest vitality.

In that environment, it is not surprising that the event has a strong appeal, he noted.

Huo Jianguo, head of Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the gathering now has wider and more important missions as increasing numbers of senior officials and delegates from overseas governments attend.

As a result, communication among governments will deepen to promote the establishment of a better business climate, he said.

Huo's remarks were echoed by Yuan Zaiqing, director of the China Convention and Exhibition Society, who pointed out the State-level event is expected to play a bigger role in benefiting the six regional countries in their economies, politics, diplomacy, societies and humanities.

He also noted the expo's rising status is in line with the movement eastward of the world's economic epicenter.

'Excellent platform'

Kim Youngsam, a minister counselor at the ROK embassy in China, said the trade and investment fair is an "excellent platform" for the ROK's companies to enlarge markets and make investment in the Northeast Asia region.

The event has helped them establish relationships with counterparts in Japan, Russia and Mongolia, he noted.

Sergei Tsyplakov, a senior Russian commercial diplomat in China, said the annual event serves as an important bridge in Sino-Russian bilateral trade. He made the comment during the Sixth High-Level Forum on Northeast Asia Economic and Trade Cooperation, part of last year's expo.

Tsedenjav Sukhbaatar, Mongolian ambassador to China, said the gathering not only has huge appeal for the countries in the region, but also has started to attract more attention from across the world.

Largest, most diverse

The eighth Northeast Asia Expo was the largest and most diverse, said the organizers.

It included the first tourism promotion conference that aimed to boost development of barrier-free travel within Northeast Asia and provided a cultural industry exhibition hall for visitors to enjoy diverse cultures from different countries.

A financial and industrial cooperation roundtable conference was also held during the expo.

A number of Chinese and foreign experts, scholars and entrepreneurs were invited to participate or deliver speeches at many seminars and activities involving outsourcing services, semiconductor innovation, private economic transformation and talent exchanges.

About 8,800 business representatives attended 103 investment matchmaking events, negotiating on more than 45,000 projects.

The expo also set a record in the number of visiting journalists, attracting about 1,100 reporters from 123 Chinese and overseas media outlets.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/28/2013 page19)