Organizers said at a press conference Sunday that 48 business delegations and 9,128 enterprises have promised to attend the Chinese Export Commodity Fair in the southern China city. More may join to push that number higher.

The fair is scheduled to open on April 15 and run through the end of the month.

Local government sources have claimed a victory in bringing the epidemic effectively under control, easing the worries of fair participants who might have considered canceling their trips to China.

The spokesman of the organizing committee Xu Liang admitted that "the actual number of business people who attend might be affected to some extent" by SARS fears and the impact of the war in Iraq.

Xu said the organizers have sent invitations to 160,000 business organizations that had attended the previous fairs, in 192 countries and regions.

Feng Liuxiang, deputy head of the Guangdong Provincial Health Department, said at the same press conference Sunday that health, quarantine and other relevant departments are working closely to guarantee the health safety of guests at the fair.

The fair will be divided into two phases. In the first, which runs from April 15 to 20, raw materials, machinery and tools, electronics and electrical appliances, textile and clothes, food and farming products will be on display. The second phase from April 25 through 30, will feature household products, gifts and decorations and office products.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2003)