Harbin will this year make bold moves to expand its trade with Russia, its large neighbor.

The highlight of the campaign will be a commodity trade fair to be held in the Siberian city of Irkutsk from August 8 to 13, according to the Harbin industry and information committee.

Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province in Northeast China, will jointly hold the fair with the Irkutsk government. It will be the biggest economic and trade activity in Russia this year. A Siberian schools promotion exhibition will be held at the same time.

At the fair, Harbin will set up an independent exhibition hall, covering 1,000 square meters. More than 30 businesses are expected to display their big-brand, high-quality products at the exhibition. Items to be shown at the fair include food, medicine, building materials and textiles.

A series of activities will be held during the exhibition period, including an opening ceremony, news briefings and company conferences.

Businesses which want to take part in the fair have to fill in the application form and send both an electronic and scanned version with stamps to the Harbin industry and information committee before Feb 28. The email address is duiwaihezuochu@163.com.