(Yicai Global) April 4 -- Hundreds of thousands of potential purchasers have signed up to join China's largest trade fair most commonly known as the Canton Fair, held offline for the first time in three years after the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a vice commerce minister.

Buyers from more than 220 countries and regions will participate in the offline or online exhibition of the 133rd China Import and Export Fair, Wang Shouwen said during a press conference today. The biannual event will be held in Guangzhou from April 15 to May 5.

The Canton Fair is a "weather vane of China’s foreign trade," Wang said, adding that holding the 133rd event is of great significance to China’s economic development and world economic recovery. The Canton Fair will also start a regular online exhibition from this year. The number of online exhibitors will be 35,000 on an optimized platform.

The offline exhibition is divided into three phases, each of which lasts for five days. The exhibition area is 500,000 square meters per phase and for the export sections, there will be 70,000 booths and 34,000 exhibitors. 

For the first time, all three phases will have import sections with a total size of 30,000 square meters. Almost 510 enterprise participants have registered to join the import exhibition and they come from more than 40 countries and regions such as the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, and Spain, per the vice minister.

China’s foreign trade has competitiveness, resilience, and advantages, Wang said. This year, the country has promoted exports while e-commerce has enhanced competitiveness, and the transportation and trade environment has also been improved, he added.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi