In a year, China's showcase of products for the global market has grown by about a fifth.

The evidence is in plain sight at the 95th Chinese Export Commodities Fair, which opened Thursday at the Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center and the Chinese Export Commodities Fairground.

Both sites -- one in Pazhou, on the city's southern outskirts, and the other downtown on Liuhua Road -- opened at the same time.

A special exhibition pavilion was set up at each location for brand names and new products.

Occupying 2,000 booths, more than 300 well-known domestic enterprises are showing off their products at the two pavilions.

Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai noted that "the special pavilions create a very good platform to show off China's overall manufacturing level, and the brand names on display reflect the achievements China has made in adjusting its export commodity structure."

He expects the expanded exhibition will help more Chinese products enter the global market.

Sprawling across the two complexes, the fair occupies 540,000 square meters of floor space.

The fair is also sprawling across the latter half of April. It is being held in two phases, with the first running through April 20 and the second scheduled for April 25 to 30.

According to Xu Bing, spokesperson for the fair's organizing committee, a total of 12,224 domestic enterprises making up 48 delegations will seek business opportunities at the fair, up 20 percent from the 94th session last October.

More than 180,000 business people from around the world are expected to attend.

An online negotiation platform has also been set up to supplement the fair.

(China Daily April 16, 2004)