Havana, cuba.-The 34th Havana International Fair, FIHAV 2016, has begun today here in the presence of about 4,500 exhibitors from 75 countries and representatives of 50 Chambers of Commerce.

This year, the exhibition includes as a main new feature the holding of an investment forum, in which a new version of the business portfolio of the island will be presented, organizers said.

They stressed that the forum will provide an enabling environment so that international businessmen could directly exchange with entrepreneurs from more than 15 sectors of the economy, including the Office of the Mariel Special Development Zone, on projects included in the portfolio and other new spaces of interest.

After its opening ceremony, FIHAV 2016 will celebrate today the Day of Spain -the most traditionally represented nation-, Russia and Japan. The latter will occupy for the first time a pavilion.

Also on the list is the launch of the Chinese Yutong International automobile company, in which eight models covering areas of urban public transportation, inter-provincial service and other well suitable to the demand of the Cuban market, will be exhibited.

The display of an all-electric, ecological bus, representative of the top technology in the field of that Asian country, is also included. Yutong vehicles, used in the transportation of passengers, have been massively present in the island for one decade.

A Cuba-Ethiopia business meeting, at the Central Pavilion’s Executive Hall of Expocuba, home of the trade fair and largest exhibition center of the country, in this capital, will take place, among other activities, during this first day of FIHAV 2016.

FIHAV, which is annually held and has been visited by more than 150,000 people, has been the most important general trade fair in Cuba and the Caribbean and one of the largest event of this kind in Latin America.

This time, the fair’s exhibition area covers near 25,000 square meters, a figure higher than previous years, and its 5,000-square-meter Central Pavilion, in which 355 Cuban companies of all sectors will be represented. They have been exhibiting their products and services.

The exhibition, to be held until November 4, also comprises business forums with Venezuela, Russia, Germany, and Caribbean countries, among others.