Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    CONTRACTS worth 264.8 billion yuan (US$42 billion) were inked at the five-day 11th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF) — about enough money to buy 140 top-of-the-line private jets. The fair ended yesterday with a 13-percent increase in total contract value compared with last year.

    More than 84 organizations from 40 countries and 18,000 professional buyers from 97 countries and regions attended the fair.

    Of the total deals, the number of projects involving more than 100 million yuan increased to 235, 45 more than the previous fair, according to the organizer.

    “Seven years ago, we organized 14 enterprises for the fair and signed deals worth US$10 million; this year, deals reached could be worth US$40 million,” trade commissioner Huang Menghan of the Taiwan Trade Center said.

    The overseas influence of the ICIF was also enhanced thanks to participation of an increasing number of overseas buyers and exhibitors who covered 20 percent of the total exhibition area at the main venue, the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center.

    Shenzhen office manager Dan Jia with the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency brought 20 South Korean enterprises to the fair in the fields of film, animation and computer games in hopes of finding movie and TV agents and manufacturers for animation-related products.

    “We have signed letters of intended cooperation with several design and manufacturing companies for the further development of animation products,” Jia said.

    “Many South Korean enterprises grow well in Shenzhen. The agency will use its global network advantage to aid such SMEs [small to medium-sized enterprises] in Shenzhen and South Korea to expand in their respective markets,” Jia said. “These enterprises eye opportunities at ICIF because the enterprises can make contact with every part of the industrial chain.” (More on P8)