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ong Kong-based Global Sources Ltd., a business-to-business market maker and e-commerce solutions provider for the global trade community, will feature Chinese exhibitors offering consumer electronics, hardware, fashion products and building materials during the first China Sourcing Fair to be held in Jakarta this week.

As many as 350 Chinese companies will partake in the trade show from Thursday until Saturday at the Jakarta International Expo in Kemayoran, North Jakarta.

Global Sources CEO Spenser Au said Chinese electronics, garments and textiles, hardware and building materials would be the four major categories of industrial products to be exhibited at the trade show, in addition to '€œSouth Korean products'€.

'€œA number of Indonesian key buyers have registered to attend, such as 3M, Sinarmas Land, Bakrie Telecom, ACE Hardware and Superindo,'€ he told journalists in Jakarta on Wednesday.

According to Au, the event would help increase bilateral trade. The two countries'€™ bilateral trade is expected to reach US$80 billion by 2015.

'€œTrade is estimated to reach $68.5 billion this year because China is the largest trade partner for Indonesia,'€ he said.

According to Trade Ministry statistics, total two-way trade between Indonesia and China stood at $36.1 billion in 2010, when the ASEAN-China free trade agreement fully took effect. The figure was about 42 percent higher than the previous year.

Total bilateral trade continued to climb to hit $52.45 billion last year, according to the statistics.

Despite the high trade value between the two countries, it has always been in favor of China, with Indonesia suffering a $7.2 billion deficit in 2013. Indonesia has already seen a deficit of $4.57 billion in the first five months of this year.

Au said that a number of chambers of commerce representatives, industry players as well as business associations from both Indonesia and China were scheduled to attend the event.

Furthermore, among the invitees are Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama and officials from Zhongshan municipality, where China'€™s home appliance industry is located.

Au said the Jakarta China Sourcing Fair would be the first expo predating three other similar fairs in Hong Kong; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Johannesburg, South Africa, this year.

'€œJakarta was chosen to hold the first fair because Indonesia is the fourth-most populous nation in the world, with a growing middle class and high demand for several products,'€ he said.

Au said that Global Sources, which held its first fair in Shanghai, China, in 2003, facilitated trade from Greater China to the world, and vice versa.

Last year, the company, currently ranked sixth among Asia-Pacific trade show organizers and second in Hong Kong, booked $201 million in revenue, a decrease from $231.7 million in 2012. (gda)