OSAKA -- The 16th Global Business Opportunities Convention wrapped up in Osaka on Wednesday evening in an atmosphere of disappointment on the part of organizers and participants.

The three-day annual convention drew an estimated 360 exhibitors from 31 countries, down from last year's total of 544 exhibitors from 33 countries.

It was sponsored by the Osaka prefectural and municipal governments, the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and supported by the Japan External Trade Organization.

OCCI leaders blamed the recent terrorist attacks in the United States and the continuing economic slump for the low turnout, saying that fewer people wanted to travel.

But some critics, especially within the Kansai foreign community, noted that G-BOC had been growing less important over the years because neither the OCCI nor the Osaka business community were interested in buying from foreign exhibitors, only selling to them.

"Once again, we see that Osaka businesses are not interested in helping foreign firms enter the Japanese markets, only in selling their own goods," said one frustrated American exhibitor.

Said a Kansai-based Western diplomat: "G-BOC this year has the same basic problem it has always had, which is that it wants Asian buyers as exhibitors, not Western sellers. As a result, everyone goes to G-BOC to sell and ends up frustrated."

OCCI president Wa Tashiro said Tuesday evening that many of the Osaka business people who had come actually wanted less of a foreign presence.

"Because of the bad economy, there were participants and others who said they thought it would be better to have more Japanese exhibitors, rather than foreign firms that are importing."

Tashiro admitted that major changes to G-BOC for next year were being discussed, including turning the event into a "Cyber G-BOC" where business could be conducted over the Internet rather than face to face.

The G-BOC conference began in 1986 as a project to bring together small and medium-size firms from around the world -- especially the Asian region. China has been the largest exhibitor for several years and was again this year with 62 exhibitors.