The 2015 Xiamen Industry Expo, formerly known as China Xiamen Machinery and Electronics Exhibition, will kick off at the Xiamen International Conference and Exhibition Center April 12-15.

As the first major cross-Straits fair since the China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone was established, the 18-year-old event is one of the largest fairs in the field of machinery and electronics jointly hosted by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronics Products (CCCME), Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association and the Xiamen government.

The event is organized to further promote the cross-Straits cooperation in the machinery and electronics industries and to help make both sides go global, said Li Rongmin, the director of the CCCME's Taipei office.

The Chinese mainland ranked first in the global machinery and electronics products trading in 2014, with the total volume of exports and imports reaching $2.16 trillion, according to Li.

The total cross-Straits trading volume amounted to $198.31 million in 2014. The exports of machinery and electronics products from the mainland to Taiwan accounted for $28.8 million, a year-on-year growth of 12 percent, while the imports from Taiwan to the mainland totaled at $118.12 million, down by 2.3 percent, Li pointed out.

Nearly one fourth of Taiwan’s machinery and electronics products export was destined to Chinese mainland in 2014. The mainland has enjoyed stable growth in the market share of machinery and electronics products in Taiwan since 2003. The Chinese mainland also surpassed Japan first in 2012 as the main supplier of machinery and electronics products to Taiwan.