SHANGHAI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The exhibition area of the second China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be larger than the first one held in November 2018, its organizers said Wednesday.

The CIIE Bureau said while areas of national pavilions, where nations promote their trade and products, remain the same, greater demands from businesses worldwide prompted the expansion of the business exhibition area.

The second CIIE will feature more categories in the business exhibition, including sci-tech life, automobile, equipment, medical equipment and healthcare products, quality life, trade in service, and agricultural products, the bureau said.

With the addition of outdoor areas, equipment may become the largest exhibition category. It will showcase products such as industrial robots, engineering machinery and special-purpose vehicles.

The sci-tech life category will add AR/VR (augmented reality/virtual reality) as a new element. The quality life category will add high-end consumer products, and elderly care will be a new feature of this year's exhibition for medical equipment and healthcare products.

More than 1,000 companies have applied for a place at the second CIIE, scheduled in early November this year, and around 100 of them have signed contracts with the bureau, said Liu Fuxue, vice president of the CIIE bureau.

The expo will again be held in conjunction with the Hongqiao International Economic and Trade Forum.

A total of 172 countries, regions and international organizations and more than 3,600 enterprises participated in the first CIIE, which was held from Nov. 5 to 10 in Shanghai. It was the world's first import-themed national-level expo.