MELBOURNE, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Australian political and business figures have showed their great interest in the China International Import Expo (CIIE) scheduled to be held in east China's Shanghai in November this year.
A promotion meeting about the CIIE was held in Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city on Tuesday.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up. The first CIIE is China’s policy announcement and action to promote a new round of high-level and active opening-up to the outside world. This will be the world’s first large-scale expo with the theme of import, said Zhao Jian, Chinese consul general in Melbourne at the meeting.
The state government of Victorian supports the CIIE and is willing to provide assistance to Australian enterprises which are interested in participating in the Expo, said Richard Bolt, secretary of the Victorian Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources.
Economics, trade and investment are the cornerstones of Australia-China relations and Victoria will continue to seek to develop stronger relations with China, he said.
At present, more than 1,700 enterprises from more than 120 countries and regions have registered for the Expo. It is expected that 150,000 international and domestic buyers will attend the event, according to Fang Hao, an official of the China International Import Expo Bureau (CIIEB).
Fang said that at present more than 60 countries and regions have registered to display their products and services in the national trade and investment complex, including Australia. In addition, more than 100 Australian enterprises have signed up for the show, most of which are from the food and agricultural products industries. The Australian Trade Commission predicts that there will be 400 Australian enterprises which will eventually participate in the exhibition. (Edited by Hu Pingchao, hupingchao@xinhua.org)
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