CHENGDU - The Sichuan Yibin Port Economic Development Zone Industry Cooperation Fair was held in Yibin, Southwest China's Sichuan province, on Sunday, drawing 44 firms, chambers of commerce and international organizations from Japan, South Korea and other parts of China to compare notes on development of the Yibin Port Economic Development Zone.

Some of them are Fortune 500 firms seeking business opportunities in the booming city at the juncture of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces in Southwest China, according to Xu Jin, executive deputy mayor of Yibin.

Before the forum, representatives of the foreign firms, chambers of commerce and international organizations visited the Yibin Port Economic Development Zone and were impressed with the port and its geographical advantage.

Van Ozone, chief of the Overseas Business Division of the Hitachi Zosen Corporation, a Fortune 500 firm, said it was the first time for many of the representatives to visit Yibin and they had thought it was remote.

But they found it was fast to transport goods from the Yibin Port to Shanghai. Waterway transportation could reduce breakage, he said.

With waterway, highway, railway and air transportation, Yibin is Sichuan's southern passageway linking the outside and the sea. It is an important passageway to the Pearl River Delta and Southeast Asia.

On December 18, 2009, the Sichuan Yibin Port Economic Development Zone was set up . Since then, it has signed more than 20 investment projects with an investment of more than 15 billion yuan, Xu said.

With the theme "Opening, cooperation and creating the future together," the Sichuan Yibin Port Economic Development Zone Industry Cooperation Fair was sponsored by the Sichuan Provincial Department of Commerce and the Yibin municipal government.