The largest China-Russia economic and trade cooperation fair has kicked off in the city of Harbin , capital of northeast China 's Heilongjiang Province. Amid the financial crisis, the China Harbin International Fair for Trade and Economic Cooperation has still seen its exhibition scale increases 25 percent from a year earlier. It's also expected to give a boost to bilateral trade between China and Russia .

 

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the China Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair. Even amid the global financial crisis, it has attracted over 10-thousand overseas exhibitors from around 80 countries and regions. But the majority are from Russia .

 

In response to the enthusiasm of Russian participants, the trade fair has set up a special "Russia Business Day" to provide a more convenient platform for their discussions with Chinese firms. This year's business day will also look for ways to boost bilateral investment and cooperation between China and Russia as the global financial crisis hits two-way trade.

 

But many Chinese exhibitors are still optimistic about trade with Russia .

 

Since its establishment in 1990, the Harbin trade fair has attracted a total of around 1.5 million exhibitors and visitors. And the total contractual turnover so far has reached over 100 billion US dollars. This year's fair will conclude on Friday.