Expo showcases central region to global investors

Global investors will be able to use the upcoming Expo Central China 2021 as a platform to expand their business into the central region of the country and take advantage of the country's ongoing efforts to expand opening-up and stabilize foreign trade, investment, officials said on Tuesday.

The 12th Expo Central China will be held from May 21 to May 23 in Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi province.

"Since the first Expo Central China in 2006, the event has played a key role in accelerating the rise of the central region and expanding opening-up in the central region," Wang Shouwen, a vice-minister of commerce, said during a news conference in Beijing.

"The event is significant in stabilizing trade and investment, fostering innovation-driven industrial development and building a new level for opening-up in the inland areas," he said.

Wang said that the central region offers a huge market for foreign companies, as nearly 370 million people, more than a quarter of the Chinese population, live in the six provinces of the central region.

By the end of last year, the cumulative GDP of these six provinces reached 22 trillion yuan ($3.4 trillion), or more than 20 percent of the national total, according to official data.

Themed "opening-up and cooperation, transformation and innovation", the expo will hold policy discussions, industrial cooperation events, project matchmaking sessions and exhibitions, offering a major platform for the Central China region to attract investment and cooperation from both home and abroad.

To date, 15 foreign dignitaries and ministerial officials, 19 embassies and consulates in China, eight international organizations, 13 foreign investment promotion agencies, 70 Fortune 500 companies and leading enterprises, 17 State-owned enterprises and 73 Chinese and foreign business associations and research institutes have signed up to attend the special events to be held during the expo.

Lu Dongliang, vice-governor of Shanxi province, said the expo will have a total exhibition area of 30,000 square meters and showcase the latest technologies and leading products from the central region.

Wang said the expo has helped boost regional and international exchanges and cooperation, as the total value of central region's imports and exports jumped from $53.58 billion in 2006 to $387.27 billion in 2020. The actual use of foreign investment in the region rose from $3.42 billion to $7.94 billion during the same period.

"We welcome foreign enterprise and investors to seek business opportunities for cooperation in the central region to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results," Wang said.