Chinese firms plan major fair in UAE

Chinese firms will hold a major exhibition in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), later this month to showcase a variety of products manufactured by the Asian nation, organizers of the event said in Nairobi Monday.

The Middle East's largest Chinese commodities fair, jointly organized by Expo Center Sharjah, China Machinery & Electronic Products Exhibition Center and the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will be held from Nov. 25 to 29 in Sharjah.

Wang Wei, general manager of China Machinery and Electronic Products Exhibition Center, told journalists in Nairobi that the fair is considered to be a major booster in trade between China and the Middle East as a whole and the UAE in particular.

"Because of great market potential for the Middle East region and China's relatively low labor cost and the good quality and low price of Chinese products, the trade between the Middle East and China is quite complementary," Wang told journalists.

He said that in the past years, China has made considerable progress and Chinese products have successfully gone global.

"In recent years the total trade volume between the Middle East and China has been increasing. From 2001 to 2006, the bilateral trade volume has been increasing by 30 percent annually. In the first half of 2006, Chinese exports to the Middle East reached nearly 15 billion U.S. dollars," he said.

"The Middle East is considered to be one of the most important markets with consumption increasing rapidly and the demand for Chinese goods surpassing our expectations," Wang said.

He said the fair has been successfully held annually in the past four years, becoming a namebrand Chinese commodities exhibition of the largest scale in the Middle East.

According to Wang, these products are not only of high quality but will also be available at highly affordable prices, something that all visitors should take advantage of.

The organizers said the show is expected to highlight two-way investment opportunities between China and the Middle East, including trade negotiations between representatives of the Middle East and those from different Chinese cities and provinces.

Wang said the Chinese government has chosen the most reputed and dynamic enterprises with high quality products from several cities and 29 provinces of China to participate in the exhibition.

He said over the past four years, nearly 6,000 representatives from 2,800 enterprises have attended the fair and more than 100, 000 visitors from 65 countries and regions, including over 82,000 professional traders, have visited the fair for negotiations and purchase. "The total transaction value amounted to 1.54 billion dollars," Wang said.

Source: Xinhua