Beijing will host the Third International Photograph and Electronic Imaging Machinery and Technology Fair from April 18 to 24 next year.

The fair, Sponsored by the State Administration of Machinery Industry (SAMI), will provide an opportunity for Chinese camera makers to exchange ideas with their foreign counterparts and promote the development of the industry, said Wang Bingnan, a SAMI official.

During the seven-day display, there will be symposiums on many topics dealing with digital technologies. The exposition will also become the venue for technology communications, information briefings and trading.

Wang noted that China is now both a major manufacturer and consumer of photography equipment. In 1998, the country produced 60 million cameras, earning one billion US dollars in export revenue.

But China has 1.2 billion people, and though there are thirty cameras for every one hundred families in the urban area, in the countryside there are only three for every one hundred families.

Wang predicts that with improvement of living standards, the annual demand for cameras in China will increase to 12 to 15 million in a few years.

He admitted that the technology and production levels of China' s photographic industry still lag behind those developed countries, pointing out that the high-quality and digital cameras now selling in China are mostly imported.