The venue for the 128th China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province File Photo: Chi Jingyi/GT

The 129th Canton Fair is to kick off online in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, from Thursday to April 24. It is the third session of the fair that will be held online since the outbreak of the epidemic.

The fair involves 16 categories of products ranging from electronic appliances to daily consumer goods, which will be displayed at 60,000 booths in 50 different exhibition zones. Also, nearly 26,000 domestic and overseas companies will participate in the exhibition, Xu Bing, spokesperson of the Canton Fair and deputy director-general of the China Foreign Trade Center, told the press on Wednesday.

So far, exhibitors have uploaded more than 2.7 million products on the online exhibiting platform, an increase of 230,000 from the previous year, marking a record high.

Enterprises from 28 countries and regions will participate in the exhibition, including industry benchmarks and leading international firms.

This year's fair will be focusing on the countries and regions in the Belt and Road Initiative and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), as well as China's major trading partners and the Canton Fair's major buyers' markets, according to the organizers of the event. 

In order to facilitate full use of the online platform, the exhibition has been in trial operation from April 6 to 14, so that exhibitors can get familiar with the platform's functions.

China's foreign trade volume surged by 29.2 percent year-on-year to reach 8.47 trillion yuan ($1.29 trillion) in the first quarter of 2021, customs data showed on Tuesday.

As China's most important international trade promotion platform, the Canton Fair is now in its 65th year. Experts believe that the fair can be another driver for trade, not just for China but other countries, and can help with accelerated resumption of business after the epidemic.

Global Times