The Macfrut expo, a major international trade show for the fruit and vegetable supply chain, kicked off on Monday with its first "China Day," a special digital pre-expo event to strengthen ties between Chinese companies and their counterparts around the world.

The Macfrut International Fruit and Vegetable Fair, which is taking place in the coastal Italian city of Rimini, attracts more than 800 exhibitors representing 11 sectors within the global fruit and vegetable supply chain. It will fully open on Tuesday and conclude on Thursday, with Italian, English and Chinese as working languages.

Monday's "China Day" event included a China-Europe Forum, aimed at promoting trade between China and Europe and the China-Italy Fresh Summit, focuses on trends in the fruit and vegetable trade between the two allies.

According to organizers, some 110 Chinese companies -- fruit and vegetable producers, as well as importers and exporters -- were present at meetings during "China Day," the first event of its kind at the Macfrut expo and at the China Pavilion.

The "China Day" initiative was jointly organized by Macfruit and China's Agricultural Trade Promotion Center.

Dignitaries participating in the opening of the conference included Stefano Patuanelli, Italy's minister for agriculture, food, and forest policy, Marizio Martina, deputy director of the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other officials.

The expo will be the first largely in-person fruit and vegetable event since the travel and health restrictions were imposed amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. This year's event will feature a mix of in-person and video events, quite apart form last year's expo, which took place entirely via video links.

According to organizers, around 40 percent of the exhibitors will be non-Italians, with many participating for the first time. The expo will include more than 50 separate events in addition to "China Day."