Trade fair nets major investment deals

Visitors check out products from Irkutsk, Russia, during the 32nd Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair held in the provincial capital of Heilongjiang province. (LIU YANG/FOR CHINA DAILY)

The 32nd Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair is estimated to have achieved more than 200 billion yuan ($27.9 billion) worth of trade and investment cooperation in various fields, its organizing committee has said.

Since its inception in 1990, the fair — which concluded on Monday in Harbin, the capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province — has attracted around 6 million visitors from home and abroad, and cumulatively witnessed 3 trillion yuan in deals.

The achievements have further helped the fair to serve as a platform for high-quality industrial cooperation, investment promotion, opening-up and international economic and trade cooperation in China, the committee said.

This year, more than 1,400 business representatives and over 7,000 professional buyers from China and 38 other countries and regions participated in the fair, which had a total exhibition area of 360,000 square meters.

During the five-day event, more than 40 themed activities were held, including the first China-Russia Regional Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference and the promotion meeting of the China-Russia Cooperation Zone.

The conference, which was co-sponsored by the provincial government and the government of Primorsky Krai in Russia, kicked off in Harbin on Thursday with the theme of "focusing on local cooperation between China and Russia to create opportunities for open development".

The conference attracted more than 450 representatives from local government departments and business communities of both countries to share their views on China-Russia local economic and trade cooperation.

Representatives from enterprises of the two sides conducted economic and trade coordination in energy, agriculture, transportation and other fields, achieving good results.

Heihe, as the only themed city of the province, jointly carried out investment promotion and exhibition with the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk during the fair, giving play to the location and channel advantages of the two cities in cross-border industrial cooperation, and jointly promoting the development of cross-border energy, processing, trade and logistics industries.

The two cities also jointly demonstrated the new achievements of Heihe's in-depth cooperation with Russia under the Belt and Road Initiative through the integration of elements such as the Heilongjiang Highway Bridge and cross-border cableway stretching from Heihe to Blagoveshchensk.

A variety of Russian products were exhibited, with items such as flour, honey, beer, vegetable oil and fruit juice highlighted at the event.

In a 60-square-meter booth, a foreign trade company displayed commodities including honey, fruit juice and fruit cans produced in Russia, which attracted quite a few visitors.

"This is the second time that we are taking part in the fair, and hoping to promote the Chinese market with its help," a staff member of the company told a local media outlet. "In addition to displaying our products, we are especially looking for partners in China, to import Chinese goods into Russia."

"Building a high-level open platform will help Heilongjiang to achieve revitalization and development with higher quality, better benefits and infrastructure," said Chen Shijun, chairman of the Council for the Promotion of International Trade of Heilongjiang. "The fair accurately matched market demand from countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative and effectively improved the demand adaptation of the province's strategic emerging industries in both domestic and foreign market supply."