The 134th session of the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, opens in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, Oct 15, 2023. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

The 134th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) was launched in Guangzhou of Guangdong province on Sunday, and will be held in three phases from Oct 15 to Nov 4.

It is worth noting that the scale of fair this year is hitting a record high.

The exhibition area of the fair has expanded to 1.55 million square meters, with a total of 74,000 booths.

In terms of exhibitors, there were 28,533 exhibitors - an increase of 3,135 over the previous session, including 27,883 export exhibitors and 650 import exhibitors from 43 countries and regions.

2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative. The proportions of buyers from BRI partner countries to participate the Canton Fair has increased from 50.4 percent to 58.1 percent during past decade, and the import exhibition for the fair total has attracted over 2,800 enterprises in 70 BRI partner countries, accounting for over 60 percent of the total.

This year, the buyers from BRI partner countries are expected to reach 80,000.

The fair aims to promote China's intelligent manufacturing overseas and global expansion on local brands this year, with setting up brand exhibition zones in industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, new energy vehicles and smart travel, new energy and other exhibition zones for the first time.

The number of brand enterprises has increased significantly, with the electronics and home appliances enterprises increased by more than 120 percent, and the industrial manufacturing enterprises have increased by more than 100 percent.

The Canton Fair is an important window for China's opening up and an essential platform for foreign trade. Moreover, it will continue to promote the acceleration of new growth drivers for foreign trade.

As a trade fair, it also emphasizes the development of service trade, such as the establishment of the Trade in Services exhibition area has successfully promoted the cooperation and exchange of international trade in services, which helps to increase the proportion of service trade in foreign trade and promote the development of foreign trade to pivot toward a more diversified and higher value-added path, introduced Hong Yong, an expert from a Chinese think tank.

"The fair provides new momentum for the development of foreign trade by promoting market expansion, promoting trade cooperation, optimizing trade structure and promoting the development of service trade, and at the same time brings new opportunities and challenges to foreign trade," said Hong Yong.