"The current global economic recovery and the growth of international trade remain sluggish. International flights are still not convenient enough. This is the objective environment that poses challenges to the growth of world trade. However, the performance of the first phase of this Canton Fair was much better than expected," said Xu Bing, deputy director General of China Foreign Trade Center and the spokesperson of the Canton Fair.

Xu made the remarks on Monday in an exclusive interview with CGTN in Guangzhou, the capital city of South China's Guangdong Province where the 133rd Canton Fair is held.

The 133rd China Import and Export Fair, or Canton Fair, has attracted online and offline buyers from 229 countries and regions around the world. As of April 23, the fair witnesssed more than 1.4 million visits altogether.

Summarizing the first phase of the event, which concluded last Wednesday, Xu said there were 66,000 overseas buyers and the export turnover reached $12.8 billion.

"Mid-to-long term orders of more than 3 months accounted for nearly 60 percent of the total trade volume in the first phase."

The spokesperson added that the Canton Fair has the best on-site transaction results compared with other domestic and foreign trade exhibitions.

Xu also introduced some of the highlights of the event.

The event is large with a total exhibition area of 1.5 million square meters, equivalent to the area of 210 international standard football fields, he said, adding that there are nearly 35,000 offline exhibitors, of which over 9,000 are new participants.

Acknowledging the Canton Fair covers almost all industrial categories of China's manufacturing industry, Xu noticed this year's fair focuses on industrial development, which represents "the advanced level of China's manufacturing development."

He stressed that the Canton Fair insists on supporting the excellent and the strong. 

By optimizing the exhibition area, and product structure, the Canton Fair organizes the participation of products representing the highest level of Chinese manufacturing and industrial development, and promotes the transformation and upgrading of industries and enterprises.

"It also encourages green and low-carbon products to participate in the exhibition, helping intelligent, green and low-carbon Chinese manufacturing to open up with the international market," he said.

Launched in 1957 and held twice yearly, the fair is considered a major gauge of China's foreign trade. 

This year's fair is scheduled to run from April 15 to May 5 with three phases taking place, from April 15 to 19, April 23 to 27, and May 1 to 5, respectively.