WTO-backed event opens 17th year on Sunday to record-high attendance

As the "Golden Key" will be raised on Sunday at the opening of the 17th China International Fair for Investment and Trade, investors from around the globe will once again converge on Xiamen, the picturesque coastal city in Fujian province.

Known as the world's largest investment exposition, the CIFIT has been an annual event in Xiamen since 1997.

Aimed at attracting overseas investment and expanding business globally, the CIFIT has become one of China's most influential platforms for the promotion of trade and investment, said Liu Dianxun, director of the Investment Promotion Agency of the Ministry of Commerce and deputy secretary-general of the CIFIT organizing committee, at a news conference on Friday.

Co-sponsored by the World Trade Organization for the first time, Liu said this year's event aims to be more international.

According to the CIFIT organizing committee, a high-ranking official of the WTO, will lead a delegation and give a keynote speech at an investment forum at the fair.

Other co-sponsors include the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Finance Corporation and the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies.

The UNCTAD will attend the 2013 International Investment Forum to discuss remodeling the global value chain. The IFC will put investors together and match them up with business opportunities.

The exhibition floor space surpasses 100,000 square meters, and the four-day event has a record-breaking attendance this year, which suggests its reputation and influence are expanding, Liu noted.

So far, the event has drawn 670 overseas delegations from some 100 countries and regions as well as hundreds of senior foreign government officials, heads of international organizations and overseas business associations and senior managers from multinational companies.

Top-notch attendees include UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi, East African Community Secretary-General Richard Sezibera and legendary commodity investor Jim Rogers.

The China, South China and Shanghai American chambers of commerce and about 60 US companies have confirmed participation in the fair, and there will be a CIFIT-record 51 exhibition booths dedicated to them.

For the first time in CIFIT's history, South Africa will participate as a "guest of honor" country.

To show the country's charm, an exhibition area of more than 1,200 square meters is set up, including a South African National Pavilion that will display the country's top 10 exports to China.

The country will also introduce its investment environment, investment policies and key cooperative projects through a seminar and matchmaking symposium.

A South African Food Festival will be staged to display the country's unique food culture.

Poland, India, Chile, Zimbabwe and Denmark will give briefings on their investment environments. And, as the provincial guest of honor, Hainan will hold a variety of promotional activities.

Zhang Canmin, deputy mayor of Xiamen, said the CIFIT has evolved in recent years to be a more efficient platform for promoting China's appeal to global investors.

In mid-August, the fair's organizing committee launched a website to offer investment services for participants.

The website includes an interactive map of global investment resources, social marketing and a large data management system. It will help to balance resources in investment and financing information and is expected to reduce costs of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The CIFIT, approved by the State Council and sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce, is currently China's only nationwide international investment promotion event aimed at bilateral investment.

Echoing the country's cutback on extravagance and calling for oganizing an event in a frugal style, the organizing committee canceled banquets and flower decorations.

A cross-Straits tourism expo and an overseas Chinese entrepreneur fair will be held concurrently with the CIFIT.

Liu Dianxun (center), director of the Investment Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Commerce and deputy secretary-general of the 17th China International Fair for Investment and Trade organizing committee, greets reporters at the news conference for the fair in Xiamen, Fujian province, on Friday. Photos by Zhu Xingxin / China Daily

Visitors admire works of art during an Olympic-themed exhibition in Xiamen, Fujian province, on Thursday. The exhibition is a sideline event of the 17th China International Fair for Investment and Trade.