Industrial convention to attract dignitaries, giants and entrepreneurs

International dignitaries, manufacturing giants and well-known entrepreneurs will descend upon the city of Hefei in Anhui province from May 25 to 27, to give their views on the future of the manufacturing industry at the World Manufacturing Convention 2018.

Meeting in the provincial capital from Friday, the convention - which runs alongside the 2018 China Investment and Trade Expo for Anhui with 4,000 attendees from 75 countries and regions - aims to promote the province's advanced manufacturing to the outside world while introducing outside advanced manufacturing to Anhui.

Business leaders from many of the world's top 500 enterprises, including Huawei, Volkswagen, Whirlpool, China Electronics Corp and Corning, are also expected to participate in the convention, which will host nine manufacturing forums and four special events.

Among them, the manufacturing industry forum will cover five topics, touching on smart manufacturing, China Voice Valley (artificial intelligence), smart home, integrated circuits and the development of advanced manufacturing clusters, according to the convention co-organizer Global Alliance of SMEs.

During the three-day event, visitors can tour a grand expo showcasing world and domestic manufacturing products and technologies, especially those in the spheres of smart manufacturing, high-end manufacturing, green manufacturing, quality manufacturing and service-oriented manufacturing.

Vice-Governor of Anhui, Zhou Xi'an, said the conference will promote more than 1,000 cooperation projects in the province to the outside world, so as to widen the scope for cooperation between Anhui's advanced manufacturing industries and its outside peers, voicing Anhui's determination to propel its real economy and innovative manufacturing, amid building a new opening-up hub in inland areas.

It is learned that a pack of investment agreements will be signed by foreign enterprises, overseas Chinese investors, central-administered enterprises, private businesses and investors from Taiwan in the areas of electronic information and home appliances, bio-medicine, new materials, new energy and high-end manufacturing.

Aiming for high-end manufacturing and cutting-edge innovations to lead the global trend, as well as authoritative speakers, co-organizer Global Alliance of SMEs said the convention will surely draw participants' attention with its arrangements both for exhibits and seminars.

Anhui's 16 prefecture-level cities will organize their own exhibitions each to showcase their respective manufacturing specialities and cooperation projects.

(China Daily 05/24/2018 page18)