HANOI - The 2012 China's Guangxi-Vietnam Trade Fair kicked off in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Thursday with the participation of 120 companies from China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

With 140 pavilions covering an area of 4,500 square meters, the fair showcases over 1,000 different products, including electricity machinery, sugar production technology, construction materials, food, medicine products, and high-tech products.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Xu Qisong, Commercial Counsellor of Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, said Vietnam and China are important trading partners. In recent years, China's import from Vietnam has increased rapidly. In the first half of this year, China's import from Vietnam increased 58.6 percent year-on-year. The two sides are working together to realize the trade target of $60 billion by 2015.

According to the statistics of the Department of Commerce of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the commercial ties between Guangxi and Vietnam have been strengthened in recent years, with bilateral trade increasing by 47.7 percent over the 2010 to nearly $7.6 billion in 2011.

As of 2011, Guangxi has invested in 133 projects in Vietnam with total capital of $278.7 million; meanwhile, Vietnam has 23 investment projects in the province, worth $90.4 million.

Guangxi's major exports to Vietnam include garments, chemicals, steel, automobiles, diesel engines, and agricultural products, while Vietnam exports coal, minerals, rubber and other agricultural products to the province.