The third China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Expo has embarked on inviting purchasers to rent exhibition positions, announced the expo secretariat in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Tuesday.

"The China-ASEAN expo is the only national one aimed at accelerating trade and economic cooperation between China and ASEAN member states," said Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng.

This coming expo will focus on the import of products for which China enjoys a trade advantage with ASEAN countries in order to increase the trade volumes. China and the ASEAN are expected to achieve the goal of increasing trade volumes to 200 billion U.S. dollars by 2010, with a growth rate of nearly 30 percent a year.

The exposition will provide 2,500 indoor booths and 500 outdoor booths, with a floor space of 80,000 square meters, said sources with the expo secretariat.

"This year marks the 15th anniversary of the bilateral strategic partnership and the China-ASEAN friendship and cooperation year," Gao said, adding that other commemorating activities will also be held during the expo.

The second China-ASEAN Exposition was held in Nanning in October 2005. Statistics from the organizing committee show that more than 25,000 purchasers attended the event, with 126 international cooperation projects signed, involving 5.29 billion U.S. dollars of investment, an increase of 5.9 percent over the last one.

(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2006)