HEFEI, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 500 businesspeople, scholars and experts from Taiwan are gathering in the city of Ma'anshan in east China's Anhui Province to attend the ongoing 7th Cross-Strait Electronic Information Expo.

As an important platform for cross-Strait economic and trade cooperation, this year's exposition, scheduled for Oct. 26-29, has attracted 182 enterprises from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

According to preliminary statistics, 23 project contracts with a total investment of 7.78 billion yuan (around 1.12 billion U.S. dollars), will be signed during the event, covering fields such as electronic information, intelligent equipment manufacturing and new materials.

The expo is co-organized by the Ma'anshan Economic Development District and Taiwan Electrical and Electronics Industry Association (TEEIA), an organization that has more than 3,000 member enterprises.

Since the first expo in 2012, more than 2,000 enterprises from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan have attended the event. Meanwhile, over 7,000 professional purchasers from some 20 countries and regions have also visited the expo, wrapping up a total trade volume of nearly 40 billion yuan so far, according to local authorities.

"Ma'anshan provides a favorable investment environment and policies to Taiwan-based companies. Therefore, more and more Taiwan-based companies are coming to invest here instead of the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta areas," said Xu Xing, deputy secretary-general of the TEEIA.

There are four major exhibition areas at the event this year, including semi-conductors and components, robots and automation, new energy and environmental protection, as well as communication and smart life.

With a display area measuring 16,000 square meters, this year's expo will offer exhibitors and visitors an overall understanding of the electronics and information industry, said the event's organization committee.