For the past decade, the American Chamber of Commerce in South China has led a delegation of business executives to the China International Fair for Investment and Trade in Xiamen each September.

With 300 participants - primarily senior executives of multinational companies - the delegation will meet with governors and mayors from nearly a dozen provinces and cities over the three full days spent at and around the fair.

In 2006, AmCham South China President Harley Seyedin accepted the "CIFIT Great Contribution Award" from former Vice-Premier Wu Yi on behalf of the chamber and its members, 80 of whom were in Xiamen at the time.

In 2007, the delegation included more than 100 individuals, and in both 2008 and 2009, China Daily's International Investment Express devoted more pages to covering the AmCham South China group than to any other organization or delegation attending the fair.

In 2010, one single company from the delegation signed 18 deals in 72 hours. In 2011, the total value of deals signed by AmCham South China delegation members at CIFIT was estimated to have exceeded $2 billion.

Last year the delegation was jointly led by US Ambassador to China Gary Locke and included a group of senior federal government officials from Washington.

In addition to touring the show floor and attending all major events held at the fair, the AmCham South China delegation also hosts an annual cocktail reception, which will be at the Westin Xiamen hotel for the first time this year.

In the past years, this reception has been attended by foreign ambassadors, board members of many Fortune 500 enterprises and a number of top Chinese government officials.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/08/2013 page14)