Annual event ready for thousands of visitors

The 10th China-Northeast Asia Expo, with the theme of "creating a new vision of cooperation for Northeast Asia", is scheduled for Sept 1 through 6 and the host city of Changchun, the capital of Northeast China's Jilin province, is ready for guests from both home and abroad.

The 10th expo will be a grand gathering on a level superior to previous expos, organizers said.

The expo aims to attract about 100,000 guests, including 10,000 from overseas.

A large number of government officials, companies, financial institutes and academies have agreed to participate.

Many senior executives of the world's top 500 companies have also confirmed their attendance.

As of Aug 24, 248 senior executives at vice-president level or above of their companies' operations in China from 214 of the world's top 500 companies and multinational companies have confirmed. In addition, 99 guests at the level of vice-president or above from 112 key State-owned enterprises and major private companies will be present.

The expo will be held at the Changhcun International Exhibition Center. Nine halls with 3,306 stands are waiting for the arrival of the exhibitors.

The exhibition area has expanded by 14,800 square meters and the number of exhibition stands increased by 748 from the 9th expo last year.

The different halls have different themes.

The theme of Hall No 1 is Internet Plus, which will show visitors the latest developments in science and technology in the information industry, and how the new creations can change people's lives.

Halls No 2 to 4 will display products from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the island of Taiwan. No 5 is reserved for Northeast Asian countries.

The hall of Jilin province, the host, is exhibition hall No 6. This will give visitors a full understanding of the province in a wide range of sectors, from economics and agriculture to tourism and food.

All exhibition stands have been booked and exhibitors will start to prepare on-site from Aug 21.

High-level conferences will also be held during the expo, including the Internet Economy Forum and the Cooperation Forum of Jilin province with African countries.

The Eighth High-level Forum on Economic and Trade Cooperation In Northeast Asia will be the keynote forum for the expo. State officials from Northeast Asian countries will exchange views on the promotion of interconnection between China and its bordering countries to boost the prosperity of the entire region.

Other important economic cooperation conferences will also be held during the exhibition period.

The second China, Japan and South Korea Cultural Communication Forum will be one of the major events.

Approved by the Foreign Ministry and the Jilin provincial government, Jilin province established the China, Japan and South Korea Cooperation Research Center and held the first China, Japan and South Korea Cultural Communication Forum last year. Residents in all three countries welcomed the resulting activities.

The second forum aims to create a cooperation platform for the three countries in fields from government and society to culture and the Internet. It will be the eighth time for a Taiwan business delegation to join the expo since 2007 and Taiwan has selected its best products from different fields for the expo.

Taiwan delegates have booked two exhibition halls out of the entire nine halls, which shows the island attaches great importance to the expo.

Some 137 top-class products from more than 70 well-known brands from the island will be on display, including high-tech products and sports and healthcare products.

A variety of cuisine originating in Taiwan, what is claimed to be the world's lightest electronic bicycle and recycled environmentally friendly clothes will also be displayed at the exhibition.

Trade promotion agencies from Taiwan said they hope more companies from the island can establish stable cooperation relationships with dealers in Northeast Asia in environmentally friendly products.

The expo has become one of the top platforms to promote regional economic development and cultural cooperation. Taiwan also hopes to make full use of the opportunity to seek cooperation with Jilin province in more aspects.

liumingtai@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/27/2015 page6)