The 135th Canton Fair kicked off today (April 15). The fair will be held in three phases from April 15 to May 5, with the online platform operating as usual.

The fair venues cover 1.55 million square meters, divided into 55 exhibition areas, with 74,000 exhibition booths. There will be 29,000 exhibitors, including 28,600 exporting exhibitors and 680 importing exhibitors.

Focusing on advanced manufacturing, the first phase of the fair set up 8,700 exhibition booths for exhibitors engaged in electronics and home appliances, new energy, NEV, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, with nearly 3,600 related enterprises. There are 4,938 branded booths by 966 branded enterprises in the first phase. More than 1,600 companies participated in the fair for the first time.

This fair has also expanded the sources of import exhibitions. As of April 13, 144,000 overseas buyers from 215 countries and regions have pre-registered to attend the fair. 288 leading enterprises as well as industrial and commercial institutions have confirmed their attendance, an increase of 21.5 percent over the same period of the previous session.

Since the inception of the Canton Fair, more than 9.3 million overseas merchants and 195 global partners have participated in the fair, which has effectively promoted trades and friendly exchanges between China and other countries and regions in the world.