Registrations are currently open for the Maldives to participate in China’s annual South Asia Expo and Trade Fair next year, announced economic minister Mohamed Saeed late Monday. Speaking at the ceremony held to award prizes to participants with special needs at the national handicraft exhibition Expo Maldives 2015 at Dharubaaruge convention centre, the minister stated that the Maldives’ participation in the South Asia Expo last year had received much acclaim, highlighting that the items submitted by the island nation had been completely sold out within three days. Minister Saeed urged as many people as possible to register at the economics ministry to participate their handicrafts in next year’s South Asia Expo, which begins in June. The Maldives is the “country of honour” in 2016’s Expo. The status grants the nation a significantly large zone to showcase its handicrafts and items, which Minister Saeed noted will also receive a substantial market. “Maldivian cuisine will also be prepared for visitors to taste at twenty five-star hotels during one night of the fair,” added the minister. The vice governor of China’s Yunnan Province, Liu Huiyan, had extended the invitation to attend the South Asia Expo in China’s Kunming Province to President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and officials of the Maldivian government and business sector during his courtesy call to the president on Monday. He had remarked that the Maldives will be the most important partner to the Expo in Kunming. The president had accepted the invitation, said the President’s Office.