The annual China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) has given itself a facelift by focusing on a series of high-level seminars and forums during its seventh session, to be held from September 8 to 11, in the port city of Xiamen in East China's Fujian Province.

Over 30 seminars and forums will be held on topics such as investment strategy, international co-operation, enterprise mergers, trade and investment barriers, new and high technology applications and logistics.

"The CIFIT International Investment Forum, sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce, is an important platform for investors around the globe to share the latest investment information,'' said Xiamen Vice-mayor Huang Ling at a press conference held in the capital city of Fuzhou.

According to Huang, 400 participants will attend the forums.

Well-known officials and business people, including Minister of Commerce Lu Fuyuan, the chief executive of Ericsson and Volkswagen, and officials from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, will deliver speeches at the forum.

"As an acknowledgement of CIFIT's influence among international investors, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development will release the 2003 World Investment Report for the first time in Xiamen on September 8,'' said Huang.

Eight symposiums on overseas investment and policies will also be held as part of the seminar series to help domestic investors explore markets abroad.

The eight symposiums are expected to attract 1,900 participants from the Ministry of Commerce, the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies, and government departments from the United States, France, Mexico and South Africa.

Topics under discussion will include investing in Caribbean and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Countries) member countries, marketing in Turkey and the new Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

As China's only State-level investment promotion fair, CIFIT is attracting more global attention. In the last session, participants from 96 countries and regions attended the fair.

The first six sessions led to the signing of contracts worth a total of US$63.1 billion and trade worth US$5.1 billion.

Close

Today's Top News		Top Business News
+The next great leap after Shenzhou V ( 2003-10-21) +Hu calls for balanced development ( 2003-10-21) +Report: SARS not airborne virus ( 2003-10-21) +Japan urged to resolve weapons issue ( 2003-10-21) +Int'l AIDS group opens Beijing office ( 2003-10-21)		+Home-appliance giants want wheels ( 2003-10-21) +Exchange-rate reform under study ( 2003-10-21) +Health insurance sector called for ( 2003-10-21) +SanDisk teams up to open outlets ( 2003-10-21) +Housing prices start to sag in Shanghai ( 2003-10-21)