The number of trade fairs in China has grown from 1,000 in 1997, 2,000 in 2002 and 3,000 in 2004 to 3,800 last year, on the back of China's trade momentum. Foreign exhibition firms also tapped the potential of the Chinese market and organized more fairs as a response to their clients' need to expand business in the world's most populous market.

"China's exhibition industry has grown rapidly in the past few years although its overall development level is still far behind foreign companies," said Wang Jinzhen, an official with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, yesterday.

China's exhibition sector raked up 14 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion) in direct sales in 2006, which is only a tiny fraction of the global total of US$300 billion, although the country has become the world's third biggest trading power, he said.

The third China Expo Forum for International Cooperation, or CEFCO, which officially opens today at Shanghai International Convention Center, is expected to have more than 600 industry representatives from 17 countries and regions to exchange ideas. The forum ends tomorrow.

Major topics include how China's macro-economy trend impacts the exhibition industry, business opportunities from the World Expo 2010 to be held in Shanghai, mergers and acquisitions in China's exhibition industry and cooperation between Chinese and foreign exhibition enterprises.

Shanghai, one of the country's top exhibition destinations, has attached special importance to its trade show sector, partly driven by the World Expo in 2010.

The city - a major trade hub - hosted 254 international shows last year with total exhibition space exceeding 4 million square meters, said Shanghai Vice Mayor Zhou Yupeng yesterday.

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