The 6th Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) International Trade and Investment and International Eco-city Construction Fair opened on Monday in Tianjin.

The 6th Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) International Trade and Investment and International Eco-city Construction Fair raised its curtain on Monday in Tianjin.

The three-day event, themed "Designing Future—Enjoy Life in Nature and Harmony", has one eco-city special exhibition and three professional exhibitions concerning environment protection, reproducible material and new energy. It will showcase the latest technologies, equipment, products and ideas on eco-city planning, housing and urban landscape design.

Nearly 300 government organs, industrial associations and enterprises from more than 20 countries and regions attended the fair on Monday.

The biannual fair, sponsored by the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, is co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Housing and Urban and Rural Construction, the Ministry of Technology and Tianjin municipality.

Tianjin mayor Huang Xingguo said the fair will facilitate international exchanges on constructing eco-cities through displaying new technologies and products, as well as experiences of model eco-cities.

He added Tianjin is now working on building itself into a beautiful, comfortable, harmonious and livable eco-city.

Before the fair's opening ceremony, the Tianjin government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations in China and the United Nations Foundation to work together on the city’s ecological construction and set up a UN low carbon economic development in China.

Tianjin is home to China's first eco-city, the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city, a strategic project between the Chinese and Singaporean governments. The 30 square- kilometer Eco-City is envisioned to create a harmonious and sustainable community that meets the needs of an urbanizing China and will be a modern township where 350,000 residents can live, work and play, according to the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Company.

Local officials said the Tianjin Eco-city, built in an environmentally fragile area, is designed to explore a scientific, balanced and sustainable development path.

Zhang Gaoli, secretary of the Tianjin CPC committee, Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, and Dr. Charles Morrison, PECC co-Chair, were among the dignitaries on hand at the opening ceremony.

By Guo Changdong