Northeast China's Jilin province is anticipating an investment boom after contracts worth 36.6 billion yuan (4.8 billion U.S. dollars) were signed by both domestic and overseas investors at an ongoing investment fair in provincial capital Changchun.

    The contracts included a 1.96-billion-yuan building materials and logistics park project and an 800-million-yuan small aircraft manufacturing project, which were signed between Italian and Russian investors and Jilin-based companies.

    Other investment projects mainly concerned the energy and infrastructure sectors, said Chen Weigen, vice governor of Jilin, at the 3rd Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo which opened on Sunday.

    Chen said the province would attract an estimated 70 billion yuan in investment from both home and abroad over the course of the five-day expo.

    The expo, with the theme of "opportunity, exchange, cooperation and development", has attracted more than 50,000 investors and merchants from 62 countries and regions.

    The expo is co-sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the Office of the Leading Group of Revitalizing the Old Industrial Base in Northeast China under the State Council and the Jilin provincial government.