The 2015 China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT), a major investment exposition, will be held from September 8 to 11 in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, a city official said Wednesday.
This year's fair, which has the dual themes of attracting investment and expanding overseas, will focus on exploring development strategies for the nation's "One Belt, One Road" (OBOR) initiative, said Ni Chao, vice mayor of Xiamen.
Ni made the comment during a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
The OBOR initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which were proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013.
Since the initiative represents China's plan for an expanded presence in the global economy, it requires many forms of support, according to Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
The CIFIT offers a venue for the economies along the Belt and Road routes to communicate, and that is a significant way to improve the efficiency of multilateral investment and trade, Bai told the Global Times on Wednesday.
More than 20 countries and regions along the Belt and Road routes will be invited to the fair, including Bahrain, Malaysia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
The exhibition floor space will cover more than 100,000 square meters, and 600 organizations and institutions from more than 100 countries and regions are expected to participate in the event, according to the CIFIT organizers.
Fujian Province's first-half exports reached 332.53 billion yuan ($53.63 billion), up 4.3 percent year-on-year. Exports to markets along the Belt and Road routes such as the Philippines, Pakistan, Iran and Thailand increased 18 percent year-on-year.
The province's imports totaled 172.95 billion yuan during the first six months of the year, down 8.6 percent, according to customs data.
