All exhibition booths of the sixth China Beijing International Science and Technology Industrial Expo have been booked out, according to the organization committee.

The expo is the largest such fair to be staged in China since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in the country.

The preparation work for the expo, which runs from September 12-15 in Beijing, began again in early July and received very positive responses both from home and abroad, said Chu Xiangyin, committee member and deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

In a total area of 60,000 square meters, booths for the 4-day exhibition have been reserved by more than 2,000 domestic and overseas enterprises and organizations including Ericsson, Nokia, Simens, Panasonic, China Mobile and China Unicom.

Participating groups from more than 20 provinces, autonomous regions and cities will also attend the expo.

According to Chu, the exhibition will highlight the impact of electronics and information technologies on the economy and people's lives, and the use of high technologies in the preparation and organization work for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

"Besides illustrating the world's updated scientific achievements via the expo, Beijing will also make use of the expo as a platform to show China's economic developments after the plague of SARS," Chu said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2003)