CHENGDU, Sept. 6(Xinhuanet)-- The 17th West China Commodity Fair opened Tuesday in Mianyang city of southwest China's Sichuan Province with more than 10,000 merchants from home and overseas attending the fair.

The current fair has an exhibition floor space of 126,000 square meters with respective halls for city image display, commercial talks, commodity show, real estate transaction as well as calligraphy and photo show, said sources with the fair organizing committee.

Meanwhile, a series of festivals and exhibitions involving sightseeing tours, food, beer and automobile will be held during the fair.

The fair, co-sponsored by the neighboring provinces and autonomous regions in the west China including Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, targets at inviting investment and boosting economic cooperation.

More than 10,000 kinds of commodities worth 15 billion yuan(1.85 billion US dollars) have been prepared for the fair, the sources said, adding that 1,200 projects in west China are seeking investors. Enditem