The 11th Hangzhou West Lake International Expo (HWLIE) will kick off on Saturday and run until November 7, Ye Min, director of the Office for the HWLIE told media in a press conference held on Monday.

Over 30 exhibitions showcasing electronics, clothing, e-commerce, culture and creative industry, recycling and more will be at the expo.

There will be a series of international forums concerning online shopping, internet technology innovations, and biomedicine and finance outsourcing. The 2009 APEC SEM Summit and the Third Sino-Arabic Entrepreneur Cooperation Conference will also be held.

The expo, positioned by the Hangzhou municipal government as "a platform for developing conference and exhibition industry and soliciting investment, as well as a festival for local residents and tourists from home and abroad," is expected to promote the city's international image and improve quality of life of local residents.

"We expect the expo will at least solicit one billion dollars of foreign capital and 12 billion dollars of domestic capital and attract over 10 million visitors," Wang Guoping, Secretary of the Hangzhou CPC Municipal Committee, predicted.

This year is more internationally oriented than previous years. Sixty international projects will be exhibited at the expo, accounting for half of the 121 projects.

Ye said he expects the 11th expo will break records in terms of scale, activities, participation by visitors, impact on local economy and brand influence.

He also promised the organizers will try their best to avoid inconveniencing residents neighboring the expo venue.

During the expo, large-scale performances, including three grand parties and one carnival parade, will be staged on the nights of October 16, 17 and 18. Fireworks will be lighted at the West Lake and the Hangzhou Grand Canal.

The first West Lake International Expo was a sensation in China when it was held in 1929. It resumed running annually in 2000.

By Guo Changdong