SHENYANG -- An economic, trade, culture and tourism expo jointly initiated by China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea opened Friday in the border city of Dandong in Northeast China's Liaoning province.

A delegation of 500 members from the DPRK is attending the 2012 China-DPRK Economic, Trade, Culture and Tourism Expo, which is scheduled to run from Friday to Tuesday, the event's organizers said.

Over 400 Chinese companies from 12 industries are also attending the expo.

With the theme of "friendship, cooperation and development", the expo consists of commodity exhibitions, trade fairs, DPRK art performances, craftwork exhibitions, a border trip to the Yalu River and an exhibition for the tourism resources of the two countries.

Supported by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the event is being organized by the Liaoning Provincial Government.

China is DPRK's biggest trade partner. Statistics show that bilateral trade volume went up 62.4 percent year-on-year to $5.64 billion last year.