Thanks to the deep solicitude and right leadership of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council, and the concerted efforts by the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Health, the Government of Guangdong Province and Guangzhou Municipality, the 93rd CECF, held from April 15th to 30th as scheduled, overcame intricate difficulties brought by SARS epidemic and successfully concluded.

The 93rd CECF attached great importance to sanitary prevention work and adopted a series of strict measures. A Coordinating Group of SARS Prevention and Treatment, headed by leaders of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Commerce, the Government of Guangdong Province and Guangzhou Municipality, was established to take full responsibility to guide and coordinate SARS prevention and treatment work during the Fair. And the CECF set up a Hygiene-Guarantee Office to organize and actualize all hygiene measures, carefully worked out an Emergency Scheme of SARS Prevention of CECF, constituted rigorous sanitary administrative regulations, and carried out a series of effective measures of prevention and control.

As the organizer of the CECF, China Foreign Trade Centre (CFTC) has taken strict prevention measures in various respects: All the facilities in the fair complex were thoroughly cleansed and sterilized at regular intervals everyday; All air conditioning systems must went through the ultraviolet radiation sterilizing; Ventilation of the fair complex was improved; air quality inside the complex was graded as first-rate by the Health Bureau of Guangzhou City; Food inspections in the complex was strengthened; Infrared temperature detectors were specially bought to check the body temperature of all the people who entered the fair complex; Once being spotted, even slightly feverish patients were not allowed into the fair complex and were immediately sent to designated hospitals. The government of Guangdong province and Guangzhou municipality jointly organized a city-scale health campaign, offering all our visitors the thorough, all-around and dependable health protection whenever they arrived at the custom of Guangzhou, got on vehicles, checked into hotels and entered the fair complex.

Due to the strict and high profile health protective measures, all attendants both at home and abroad were free of SARS infection. To be truly responsible for the health condition of the exhibitors and visitors, the Fair kept checking the attendants?¡¥ health condition after the fair was concluded. So far the feedback indicates that not a single attendant is found infected with SARS.

After the 93rd CECF concluded, the CFTC implements strict hygiene measures on fair complex management. All people entering the complex must be checked body temperature; Outdoor areas are cleansed every day; The air in important sections of working space, like meeting rooms, the clinic, the dining hall, and restrooms, is sterilized every working day; The exhibition halls that are not in use are closed temporarily, and are ventilated, cleansed and sterilized on schedule so that a clean and hygiene environment is able to be created for the coming 94th CECF.

Now as required by the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Health and the People's Government and CPC Committee of Guangdong Province, the CFTC completely reviews its successful hygiene work and other preparatory and operational work in order to consistently improve the CECF and bring it into full play in China's opening up to the rest of the world and international trade.

Editor: Catherine