The 14th edition of the Macau International Fair, which is due to begin Thursday, already has the signing of 30 business agreements confirmed involving investment of over 3 billion patacas (US$385 million) , the event’s organisers said Monday.

According to the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) around 840 business meetings have been scheduled for the International Macau Fair and over 2,300 projects from all over the world were presented to the organisation with a view to establishing partnerships during the event.

“Over 1,800 projects are seeking investors, 275 need suppliers, 158 are looking for partners via franchising and 101 are looking for buyers,” Jackson Chang, the chief executive of IPIM and coordinator of the fair said.

Between Thursday and Sunday, the Macau International Fair will be held at the convention complex of The Venetian hotel and casino, and will host over 35 forums and conference as well as exhibitions of products and services and contact meetings, whilst being held alongside the Wine & Gourmet Asia fair.

With over 1,000 stands belonging to 600 exhibitors from 48 countries and regions – 14 of which are taking part for the first time, such as Russia, Colombia, Peru and Cuba – in which small and medium-sized companies will be the focus, the Macau International Fair is this year bigger than ever.

The fair is the result of an investment of 20 million patacas, and according to its organizers expects to attract some 60,000 visitors, 3,000 of which will be professionals from over 60 countries.