The Fourth China Agricultural Trade Fair (CATF) is due to attract a record number of exhibitors when it opens in Beijing on October 16 for a five-day run.

 

Vice Minister of Agriculture Niu Dun said at a preparatory conference on Tuesday that the fourth CATF would attract more exhibitors and buyers from Russia, the United States, the ASEAN and other countries and regions.

 

The fourth CATF would continue to maintain a special area for enterprises and products from Taiwan, said Niu.

 

To mark the start of the Chinese government's campaign to create a new socialist countryside, the latest China-made agricultural products and technologies would debut at the CATF.

 

The annual CATF is hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, and supported by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance.

 

Exhibitors and buyers from more than 40 countries and regions participated in the three previous fairs, signing agreements on more than 5,000 projects with a total actual trade value of 59 billion yuan (US$7.4 billion).

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2006)