The 2020 China International Fair for Investment & Trade (CIFIT) kicks off in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province on Sept 8. [Photo by Xiao Da/chinadaily.com.cn]

The 2020 China International Fair for Investment & Trade (CIFIT) kicked off both online and offline in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province on Sept 8. The event will end on Sept 11.

In light of the on-going COVID-19 epidemic, this year's CIFIT reduced its size and only invited overseas guests, enterprises and organizations from low risk areas to its offline event. Global buyers and visitors can take part through the online edition.

Sponsored by Alibaba Group, the online platform provides a business fair with modern technologies such as 5G, VR, AR and livestreaming to people in over 40 countries and regions. Participants can visit exhibitions, take part in forums and summits, carry out match-making activities and sign deals with partners via the internet.

Chen Jing, deputy director of the Fujian Provincial Commerce Bureau, said: "It's not just for the China International Fair for Investment and Trade, we want to take the CIFIT as an opportunity to utilize the online CIFIT platform and further expand the investment channels of our province and thus normalize online exhibition promotions, online investment and online project signing."

The exhibition area of Shanxi province, the guest province of honor of the CIFIT. [Photo by Xiao Da/chinadaily.com.cn]

The offline exhibition, which covers an area of 110,000 square meters, includes 16 specialized exhibitions featuring investment, industrial investment promotion, and trade between countries along the Silk Road route. Exhibiting their products are companies from more than 35 countries and regions, including the guest country of honor the Philippines. This year's guest province of honor remains Shanxi province. The exhibition area for Fujian province measures 6,000 square meters this year.

CIFIT, approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China, takes place every September in Xiamen. It is currently China's only international investment promotion event aimed at facilitating bilateral investment.