NANNING, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The 17th China-ASEAN Expo scheduled from Nov. 27 to 30 in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, will hold a slew of online and offline activities.

Themed "Building the Belt and Road, strengthening digital economy cooperation," the expo aims to deepen cooperation in trade, digital economy, science and technology, health and other fields.

With a planned exhibition area of 104,000 square meters, this year's event will set up 5,400 booths, Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, told a press briefing on Thursday.

More than 1,500 enterprises from home and abroad will participate virtually in the four-day event, Gao said.

The international exhibition area has 229 booths for participants from 22 countries, including Pakistan, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, India, Iran, France, Italy, and Russia.

The expo will also host 11 high-level forums and more than 160 economic and trade promotion activities.

Initiated in 2004, the annual expo is an important platform for promoting trade and bilateral relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).