In a year, China's showcase of products to the world has grown by about a fifth.

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

Both sites, in Pazhou in the southern outskirts and on the downtown 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.

Bo Xilai, minister of commerce, told the media 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 to adjust its export commodity structure."

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

Spawning across the two complexes, the fair takes up 540,000 square metres or 270,000 international standard booths in two phases.

The first phase will run through April 20, and second phase is 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 show up.

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

(China Daily April 16, 2004)