Dongguan in South China's Guangdong Province aims to build the International Computer, Communication and Consumer Electronic Products Exposition (3C EXPO) into a professional international exhibition brand.
"Although 3C EXPO is already the fourth largest professional computer exhibition in the world, we still need to elevate its international status," said Wu Qiurong, chairman of the Dongguan Digital Industry Association (DIA) and a chief organizer of the fourth 3C EXPO, at a press conference on the information technology (IT) fair.
Cebit in Hanover, Germany, Comdex in Las Vegas of the United States and Comptex in Taipei of Taiwan Province are the top three in terms of exhibitors and visitors.
The fourth 3C EXPO, scheduled from October 13 to 17 in Dongguan International Exhibit Center, has received applications from more than 250 delegations for 730 booths, according to Wu.
The annual event will have a exhibition space of 25,000 square meters (29,900 sqaure yards) with 1,200 booths.
About 20 procurement groups from the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan Province and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will attend the event.
The fair will cover seven areas: computers and peripherals, digital products and technology, software, machinery-electronic-integration products, communication and network, high and new technologies and electronic components.
Over 400,000 people attended last year's 3C EXPO and the transaction volume reached US$1.7 billion.
"With the exhibition, Dongguan will expand its global advantage in manufacturing and will develop into the third regional economic center after Guangzhou and Shenzhen," Wu Qiurong said.
He believed that 3C EXPO will help the city make breakthroughs in attracting global giants and their cutting-edge technologies and will reinforce its position as an international IT manufacturing centre.
"Talent is the most important productive factor for our future development and we will make up more favourable policies so as to keep us in the forefront of high technologies in the new century," Wu added.
Dongguan, as an international IT base, produced 40 percent of computer magnetic heads and cabinets, 30 percent of computer drives and 10 percent of mainboards out of the global output last year.
(China Daily July 8, 2002)
