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The National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the host venue for the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

More than 13,000 companies from East China's Zhejiang province have signed up for the fourth China International Import Expo, which is slated to be held in Shanghai from Nov 5 to 10, according to a government press conference held on Oct 21.

The registered enterprises are primarily from industries such as service trade, automobile, technical equipment, consumer goods and medical apparatus.

The Zhejiang delegation will comprise about 35,000 people, accounting for 11.4 percent of the nation's total.

It is expected to reach intended deals worth more than $5 billion with exhibitors during the expo.

To improve its global image, Zhejiang will organize or participate in 39 activities which will be held on the event's sidelines.

Zhejiang has maintained a robust growth momentum for imports in recent years.

In the first three quarters of this year, the province's imports surged 31.9 percent year-on-year to about 833 billion yuan ($128.15 billion), making up 6.5 percent of the nation's total. The growth rate was also 9.3 percentage points higher than the national average.

The measure rolled out by Zhejiang to build provincial import facilitation and innovation demonstration zones and key import platforms in 2020 has played a big part in bolstering growth.

To date, Zhejiang has built 10 such demonstration zones and 80 key import platforms.