A signing ceremony for the 2017 China International Electronic Commerce Expo is held at a press conference in Beijing on Nov 7, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 2017 China International Electronic Commerce Expo, the biggest annual expo of its kind in China, is scheduled to kick off April 11 in Yiwu city, the world's largest wholesale market of consumer goods, in East China's Zhejiang province, the organizers said at a press conference in Beijing on Monday.

To keep pace with the latest trend of Internet economy development, the three-day expo will be themed "Sharing Economy, Connecting the Future" and is sponsored by the China International Electronic Commerce Center, China Electronic Chamber of Commerce and Yiwu municipal government.

Amazon, Ebay and Facebook will send delegates to the expo, along with quite a number of big domestic e-commerce players, including 360buy, Suning and DHGate. The organizing committee is trying to invite as many e-commerce platforms as possible from other countries outside the US, such as Germany, Russia and Brazil.

Two highlights of the exhibition will be the new VR/AR product and rural e-commerce zones.

So far, more than 400 companies have confirmed that they will come to the expo, reserving nearly 1,100 of the total 2,500 exhibition booths.

A number of sub-forums and events will be held during the expo, including a competition of e-commerce models who present goods for online sellers, according to the organizing committee.