June 2009 at the Harbin Trade Fair

The governor of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province says the 20th China Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair will provide many commercial opportunities for world companies during the global financial crisis. He believes this year's Harbin Trade Fair will be the most successful one so far.

Zhangcheng has this report.

The 20th Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair has attracted enterprises from nearly 70 countries. And the number of stands has increase by 25 percent, to the present 3000. Governor of Heilongjiang Province, Li Zhanshu, has sumerized characteristics of this year's trade fair.

"In the past, exhibitors are mainly from China and Russia, but this year, more Asian, European countries joined in. Meanwhile, projects on the trade fair have expanded to include culture and tourism. I believe it will become the most successful one in the fair's history."

Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute has sent in a trade delegation comprised of more than 20 enterprises.

Chen jinghong is the executive director of the institute.

"This the third time we come to Harbin Trade Fair. We want to promote Macao and its companies, and further develop trade relationship with Heilongjiang."

She said thanks to the close business relations with the inland provinces, Macao's economy did not suffer too much following the world wide economic downturn.

On the contrary, it is a great opportunity for Macao to expand market on the mainland, especially after the central government released a 4 trillion Yuan economic stimulus package.

"We'll take an advantage of the fair to seek business opportunities, such as food processing and machinery. Meanwhile, I think the fair is a good platform for us to strengthen trade and cooperation with other countries."

Many enterprises attended the Fair for the first time in Harbin. Mengde Food Company in Hebei province is one of them.

Xue Mengde is the general manager.

"My company has attended Canton fair for many times, but this is the first time for us to attend Harbin trade fair. We want to export our products to Russia, Japan and Korea, so we're here to tap the business potential."

Not only Chinese enterprises attach importance to the Harbin Trade Fair, many foreign companies are also finding the event an effectively way for them to promote popularity in the Chinese market.

Steven Roadknight, the Sales manager with the Australian Just Beer Company, once again took Victoria beer to the fair.

"There has been three thousand cases sold here last year, I don't know how much it contributes by the trade fair. Because they may not purchase on the day of the fair, but it gives you a very good exposure to the organizations and other companies around Harbin. We notice that after last year's trade fair that sales increased rapidly over a period of time."

This year's trade fair will be held from Monday to Friday.

The first Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair was held in 1990.

The fair has become China's window to Russia and other eastern Asian countries.

CRI news, Zhangcheng, Harbin.