More than 400 domestic and foreign enterprises exhibited their products at the fair, which covers an exhibition floor space of 24,000 sq. meters with 1,210 indoor booths.

China's export of machinery and electric products rank first inits foreign trade. In the first eight months this year, the exportvolume of machinery and electric products topped 95.26 billion US dollars, up 27.2 percent over the same period last year.

A series of trade talks and purchase activities will also be conducted during the event.

Wuhan, the largest comprehensive industrial base in central China with a population of 7.6 million, has developed machinery asone of its four pillars of industry in recent years.

As the only state-level event of its kind, the fair will be hosted in the city every year.

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2002)