KUNMING, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The 8th China-South Asia Expo opened on Tuesday in Kunming, the capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, attracting over 2,000 exhibitors.

Nearly half of the exhibitors are companies from South and Southeast Asia.

The six-day event features 15 exhibition halls with themes including architecture technology, manufacturing, green energy and modern agriculture.

Notably, for the first time, a pavilion dedicated to the coffee industry has been established, highlighting Yunnan's status as China's premier coffee producer. Over 160 companies are showcasing their products in this pavilion.

The expo was first held in Kunming in 2013, the same year China put forward the Belt and Road Initiative. Since its inception, the expo has served more than 18,000 domestic and foreign companies, promoted trade of more than 100 billion U.S. dollars, and facilitated the signing of over 3,000 projects.

Jointly organized by the Ministry of Commerce and the Yunnan provincial government, the expo is one of the year's most important events for economic and trade exchanges between China and South Asian countries.

Bimala Ghimire, vice chairperson of the National Assembly of Nepal, highlighted the expo's significance in reducing trade barriers and promoting balanced trade. "China's trade policies have greatly benefited Nepal, and we look forward to further cooperation," she said.

Industry insiders and officials believe that China and South Asian countries have strong economic complementarities, which will offer broad business cooperation prospects in various sectors.

Chinese companies actively participate in the construction of digital infrastructure in South Asia, such as Bangladesh's national data center and the China-Nepal cross-border terrestrial optical cable, focusing on cultivating local digital talent and helping bridge the digital gap, said Wang Liping, an official with the Ministry of Commerce.

Lin Minwang, deputy director of the center for South Asian studies at Fudan University, said products such as Pakistani rice, Sri Lankan tea, Maldivian seafood, and Afghan pine nuts are well received by Chinese consumers.

"Many South Asian products meet the needs of the Chinese market," he noted during a side event at the expo.

Official data shows that trade volume between China and South Asian countries reached nearly 200 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, twice the amount recorded in 2013.

Lin said that despite the rapid development of economic and trade cooperation between China and South Asian countries in recent years, the trade volume still lags behind that between China and ASEAN, which reached 911.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.

"With a market of over 2 billion people, China and South Asia have untapped cooperation potential," he said.