The 2nd WCIF was jointly sponsored by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the People's Government of Sichuan Province and Hong Kong Trade Development Council from May 25 to 28, 2001 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, named 2001 Western China Economic and Trade Fair cum Hong Kong Excellence Expo.
More than 1,300 entrepreneurs and government officials from more than 20 countries and regions, more than 6,000 representatives from 12 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Daqing and Xuzhou and cities and prefectures of Sichuan Province attended the fair. President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Donald Tsang, Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong SAR Government headed delegations to the fair.
The exhibition area reached 23,000 square meters, or 1,100 exhibition booths. It attracted 900 exhibitors and 100,000 visitors. During the fair, cities and prefectures of Sichuan Province nailed down 165 projects of investment and cooperation with domestic and overseas investors, amounting to 14 billion yuan and the agreed investment reached 12.8 billion yuan. Of that, there were 33 foreign-invested projects with total investment 5,343 million yuan and introducing foreign investment 4,565 million yuan. The rest 132 projects were involving in the domestic cooperation with total investment 8,658 million yuan and introducing 8,235 million yuan of domestic investment. The signed trade contracts totaled 17.3 billion yuan and the on-site trade value reached 340 million yuan.
The fair was dominated by the IT industry, food processing and garment industry. Symposium on Opportunities and Challenges after China's Accession to the WTO, Western China Development and International Economic and Trade Cooperation Meeting and Digital China Forum were held during the fair. President Chavez especially made a 30-minute speech on the China-Venezuela economic and trade cooperation. Donald Tsang delivered a speech on the fiscal and financial issue. Some countries and regions, and domestic provinces, municipalities and cities and prefectures of Sichuan Province separately held investment and trade seminars.
