The fourth China Jilin-Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo ended on Saturday. In the past week, more than 40,000 business people, government officials and experts gathered in Changchun to hold trade talks and academic seminars on the region's economic development. This year, the total trade volume of the expo has reached about 15 billion U.S. dollars, an annual increase of nearly 40 percent. Our reporter Dan Dan has more:

Reporter:

During this year's trade expo, many business people from foreign countries expressed confidence about investing in China.

Tsungchin Wu, President of the World Association of Chinese Entrepreneurs, has escorted a delegation of Chinese businessmen in the United States to Jilin.

"In the past, overseas Chinese entrepreneurs may not be quite familiar with the northeast Chinese provinces. Many of my delegation members have come to Jilin for the first time, but they are quite satisfied with the investment environment here. And they will also be quite willing to make investments here if they are provided with proper conditions."

Centered in Northeast Asia, the northeast Chinese provinces have easy access to advanced technologies and the affluent capitals of developed countries such as Japan, as well as rich natural resources in Mongolia and Russia.

Along with these favorable conditions, many local business people said that they have also benefited a lot from the government's policy to revitalize the old industrial bases of northeast China.

Zhou Huaqi is a local company leader involved in the service industry.

"The Revitalization of the old industrial bases in Northeast China is an all-round revival. We no longer preserve many industrial bases in Jilin Province. Instead, we've planned to encourage enterprises to set up their headquarters in big cities like Changchun, which are of strategic significance for the development of the northeastern provinces."

Government officials at the expo said the Chinese government will strictly adhere to the revitalization policy in the following years.

Meanwhile, experts at the expo suggested that the northeast Chinese provinces make use of their own advantages while they work together.

Detlef J. Kotte is an official with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

"As far as I see, there is a big agricultural potential here. I think it is important while enhancing industrial development, also to maintain the productivity progress in agriculture. And built on both, I think it is very important for this particular province or China as a whole not based so much on agricultural exports, but on industrial exports."

Kotte said China can continue to benefit from some technological advances if northeastern Asian countries like Japan and South Korea invest in the region and the country as a whole.

DD, CRI News