China will host an international exposition next year to showcase the world's achievements in the building of environment-friendly society, organizers of the event said Wednesday.

The expo, the first of its kind ever to be held in China, is set for June 3-6, 2006 in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, said Wang Gang, an official with the organizing committee.

Wang said the event will showcase major achievements of different countries in their building of environment-friendly society, as well as Chinese companies' state-of-the-art technologies and products designed to serve that goal.

The expo will be held in eight halls covering 36,000 square meters. Separate halls will be opened to feature "green" government procurement, China's major environment protection programs under the 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010), environment-friendly culture and ecological parks in cities.

More than 20 big-name Chinese businesses will set up exhibition booths at the exposition, including China Mobile Telecommunication Co., PetroChina Company Ltd. and Haier Group, according to Wang.

Exhibitors will also include companies or institutions from France, Italy, Britain, Finland and Japan, he said.

The event will also feature a summit forum, seminars, official publication of ongoing and forthcoming environment protection programs and a gala show whose income will be spent on environment protection endeavors.

The event will be sponsored by All-China Environment Federation.

"Environment-friendly" has become a key word in China's development, and the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee has set a target of building such a society to curb pollution and sustain economic growth.

Earlier this year, the fifth plenary session of 16th CPC Central Committee proposed to "build a resources-saving and environment-friendly society", underscoring that it will be a strategic task for China's mid- and long-term economic and social development.

(Xinhua News Agency December 14, 2005)