Delegates from the global business community will attend the biannual China International Environmental Protection Fair.

The event is widely viewed as an important environmental monitoring conference and will open next Thursday in the coastal city of Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

More than 200 companies from countries such as the United States, Germany, Canada, France and Japan will take part in the three-day fair, crowned as one of the Global 500 by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) three years ago.

It is sponsored by the State Environmental Protection Administration and the Dalian municipal government, said Dalian Vice-Mayor Song Zengbin yesterday.

"The latest technologies, products and related services of environmental protection industry all over the world will be on display," added Song.

Atmosphere pollution prevention and control, sewage disposal, urban garbage treatment, noise and vibration control and natural biological conservation, will be profiled.

An environmental monitoring seminar and an environmental engineering investment forum will also be staged.

Experts revealed China will have a total investment of 700 billion yuan (UD$85 billion) in biological and environmental protection over the coming five years, providing a huge market.

In Dalian alone, about 100 companies have been shut down and more than 130 have been moved out of the downtown area in the past decade under the environment protection measures, said the vice-mayor.

"In the past five years, the city has invested more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in the environmental infrastructure construction, Song added.