China predicts its biggest import and export exhibition, Canton Fair, slated for October this year, will attract many more Arab Gulf businessmen.

In its last edition, the exhibition - held twice a year - lured 30 percent more Kuwaitis and 45 percent more Saudis than it did in its former edition, and entering its 110th edition, an official from China's Foreign Trade Centre in Guangzhou expected this average to increase, he told KUNA while touring Kuwait to promote Canton Fair.

Direct links from the Gulf to China's eastern Guangzhou province have also increased, with the Saudi Airlines opening a direct flight to the region, after it was seldomly restricted to flights from Dubai, UAE.

The Chinese official said the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council are huge commercial partners of China, judging the large scale of trade between the regions during the last ten years.

Ahead of the event, the exhibition will be promoted by a number of China Foreign Trade Centre official visits to the Gulf region, with Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia all on the list.

The 109th session of the Canton Fair, which just concluded on May 5, 2011, attracted 208,406 overseas buyers from 209 countries and regions, with an increase of 3.89 percent from its previous one. The business turnover achieved at this session amounted to USD 36.86 billion, up by 5.8 pct.

"Chinese exhibitors of the Canton Fair are credible and highly competitive. About 20,000 domestic enterprises participate in each session, which are selected from hundreds of thousands of Chinese enterprises and represent the hughest industry levels," the statement noted. (end) fnk.sd KUNA 231639 May 11NNNN