Beijing - Great potential is offered for European Union business investment in China's Sichuan province, parts of which were devastated by last May's earthquake, EU officials said Sunday.

"We want to give a sign that the situation is not just difficult, but that there are business opportunities there too," EU Chamber of Commerce President Joerg Wuttke said.

He was speaking during a conference of some 200 business people and officials attending a trade fair in Chengdu.

The area of the city and of nearby Chongding were home to 120 million people presenting "huge potential purchasing power", Wuttke said.

Sichuan - where an estimated 80,000 people were killed in the May earthquake - was a major industrial region of growing importance compared with China's eastern seaboard areas, he said.

The trade fair featured information on reconstruction credits, cooperation partners and exchanges among European companies with experience of doing business in the region. dpa