China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT), the 11th of the kind, opened in Xiamen on Saturday, as Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi used a symbolic key to open a door to a hall at the main venue of CIFIT, where diverse rounds of business talks will be carried out.

A grand ceremony was held on Saturday to mark the start of the fair, with the presence of foreign dignitaries, government officials, as well as Edmund Ho Hau Wah, Chief Executive Officer of Macao Special Administrative Region, and John Tsang Chun-wah, financial secretary of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

While addressing the opening ceremony, Ma Xiuhong, Vice Minister of Commerce, said the 11th CIFIT highlighted greater international feature and grew larger in size as well, attracting nearly 10,000 business people from more than 100 countries around to attend.

Statistics from the organizing committee of CIFIT show by Thursday, 9,658 business people from 106 countries and regions arrived, both records high.

In the meantime, companies and organizations from 65 countries and regions sent representatives to the fair, a rise of 19. One third of the entire floor space for exhibition at this year's fair are reserved for overseas business booths.

With the auspices of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, CIFIT is undertaken by Fujian Provincial Government, Xiamen City Government, and the Investment Promotion Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce, plus support of five international organizations. Both Hong Kong and Macao started to become members for hosting the fair as of this year.

(Xinhua News Agency September 8, 2007)