(Yicai) Oct. 11 -- More than 30,000 enterprises will take part in this year’s second session of the bi-annual China Import and Export Fair, better known as Canton Fair, with more than 4,600 attending the event for the first time.

About 29,400 companies at the upcoming round of the Canton Fair will be exporters, up by 800 from the previous one, Chu Shijia, director of the China Foreign Trade Center under the Ministry of Commerce, said at a press conference yesterday.

The 136th Canton Fair will be held in three phases between Oct. 15 and Nov. 4. Expected to have 55 exhibition areas across nearly 1.6 million square meters, the event will host more than 750 trade and promotion activities, a new record high, Chu noted.

About 125,000 overseas buyers had pre-registered to attend the Canton Fair as of Oct. 9, according to Chu. Among them, nearly 76 percent were from countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, and over 16 percent were from member nations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. More than 13 percent were from the Middle East, and almost 13 percent were from Europe and the United States.

Chu pointed out that 223 of the world’s top 250 retailers, including Walmart, Auchan, Carrefour, and Tesco, have confirmed they will participate in the Canton Fair, up 24 percent from the second round of last year, Chu pointed out.

Walmart is expected to bring a team of more than 100 people to the fair, and Japan’s Nitori Group will likely have over 300 staffers attending, Chu added.

Digitalization and eco-friendliness are the main trends of international trade development, said Xiao Lu, deputy director of the Department of International Trade of the Ministry of Commerce. The Canton Fair also follows the same trends.

About 390,000 digital and smart products will be showcased at the upcoming session of the Canton Fair, up four-fold from the previous one, Xiao noted, adding that the number of green and low carbon products will be more than double.

Editor: Futura Costaglione