The third Guangzhou International Garment Festival will be staged next March in this capital of south China''s Guangdong province, according to the Guangzhou municipal government.

The festival will run from March 5 to 8 in the Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center, said Zhu Li, secretary general of the municipal government.

Zhu said Guangzhou is China''s largest garment trade center and has 2,800 clothing enterprises, employing 200,000 workers and turning out a total sales value of 20 billion yuan (2.4 billion US dollars) annually.

The second Guangzhou International Garment Festival received 120,000 business people both from home and overseas, with total trading volume hitting 1.85 billion yuan (223 million US dollars).

The 2004 event will include a garment trade fair, a fashion contest and a week of fashion shows. The government said the festival will be held in March each year.