A total of 117 exhibitors from 40 countries and regions and around 20,000 overseas buyers are attending the 13th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair being held at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, the main venue, between 11th and 15th this month.

Booths for overseas exhibitors took up 20 percent of the total 100,000-square-meter exhibition area of the fair.

Foreign exhibitors mainly gathered in Hall 7, the international exhibition hall under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and showcase cultural products and local specialties.

It is the third year that the fair organizer has set up a hall especially for countries included in the Belt and Road Initiative. Thirty-five countries, including the U.K., France, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine and Poland, participate in the fair.

It is the first time that Israel, South Africa and Imperial County in California of the United States has sent government delegations to the fair. More than 50 representatives from enterprises in Israel, Egypt, India and well-known global organizations attended business-matching activities and promotion meetings. The organizer arranged export-oriented cultural enterprises for the fair to stimulate exports and strengthen exchanges between countries along the Belt and Road.

Hall 5, an exhibition hall of culture and science, attracted leading cultural enterprises and digital innovative enterprises to participate.

Hall 6 for art products attracted art institutions and galleries from 12 countries and regions, including the United States, France, Russia, Israel, Ukraine and Canada. The organizer arranged several auctions of modern art products.

Besides the main venue, 68 subvenues across the city developed culture-related transactions, exhibitions and forums during the fair.

As the only international cultural industries fair in China, ICIF has become a calling card for Shenzhen and a trade platform for China’s cultural products and projects, driving the development of China’s cultural industries and advancing the globalization of Chinese cultural products.

The city now has 62 cultural industry parks and bases, covering animation, games, design, digital tech and printing. OCT, Dafen Oil Painting Village, Artron and Tencent have been graded as national cultural demonstration bases. More than 30 cultural enterprises have been listed overseas.

Statistics show that Shenzhen’s cultural and creative industries have maintained fast growth momentum and realized 194.9 billion yuan (US$28 billion) in added value in 2016, an increase of 11 percent over 2015 and accounting for 10 percent of the city’s GDP.