REGIONAL> Highlights
15th China Yangling Agricultural Hi-Tech Fair kicks off
By Lu Hongyan and Ge Lin (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-11-06 16:28

XI’AN: The 15th China Yangling Agricultural Hi-Tech Fair opened yesterday, attracting exhibitors from 27 countries and regions.

The fair, which features farm produce and farm produce processing exhibitions, seed, fruit and machinery exhibitions, rural tourism as well as Israeli, Canadian, Australian and Thai national agriculture exhibitions, has drawn participants from Israeli, Thailand, Canada, Australia, South Korea, France, Singapore, Belgium, Austria, Italy, India, Egypt, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, Denmark, Taiwan Province and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Area, according to Liang Hongxian, assistant secretary-general of the Preparatory Commission of the 15th China Yangling Agricultural Hi-Tech Fair.

The Israeli national agricultural exhibition, which covers 413 square metres, has drawn more than 30 representatives of 10 famous Israeli agriculture-related firms, Liang said.

The 15th China Yangling Agricultural Hi-Tech Fair, sponsored by 17 ministries and commissions of the central government and Shaanxi provincial government, is aimed at building an international platform for the exchange and transaction of China’s agricultural high technology and products, he said.

The Yangling fair has become one of the four famous hi-tech fairs in the country and is hailed as its agricultural Olympics. The fair, with high technology, industrialization and modernization as its themes, will play an important role in dissemination of agricultural science and technology, innovation of the service system and the building of modern agriculture.

The previous 14 fairs attracted more than 12 million participants from more than 30 countries and regions. Their transactions surpassed 140 billion yuan and boosted agricultural and rural development in China’s dry and semi-dry regions.