"According to the current distribution of exhibition industry in China, there are basically five economic exhibition belts, namely, the Pan Bohai Sea economic exhibition belt, the Yangtze Delta economic exhibition belt, the Pearl River Delta economic exhibition belt, the Northeast China economic exhibition belt and the Central and Western China economic exhibition belt with Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dalian, Chengdu, Xi'an and Kunming as centers respectively," said Gao Yan, vice president of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) at the China Expo Forum for International Cooperation (CEFCO) convened on January 11 in Beijing.

Delivering a speech at the forum, Li Shenglin, deputy director of National Development and Reform Commission, said the development of exhibition industry in China is still in the primary stage. There exist problems involving small exposition halls, low-level services, lack of brand name expositions, and shortage of professional personnel, weak comprehensive competitiveness and low percentage in the national income. Therefore, the departments involved should attach importance to and support the development of exhibition industry in the above-mentioned aspects.

He stressed four aspects in this regard: first, China should continue to strengthen the infrastructural construction for exhibition industry, which is of non-profit public undertakings to some extent. Development and reform departments at various levels will, as always, give full support to the infrastructural construction of exhibition industry. Secondly, China should bring the market mechanism into full play, accelerating the development of a number of brand-effective exhibitions and exhibition companies with competitiveness and giving full play to the self-disciplinary and exemplary role of the association exhibition industry. Thirdly, China should optimize the external environment for exhibition industry and crack down on various swindles so as to raise the service level. Last but not least, China should speed up professional personnel training for exhibition industry.

By People's Daily Online