Global firms to embrace new era of manufacturing

Global manufacturers, gathering in Anhui for a world manufacturing convention, showcased their determination to embrace a new era of manufacturing by promising to invest 735.1 billion yuan ($105 billion) in 638 projects in the province when the gala ended on Monday.

These include a 220-billion-yuan investment to set up Changxin IC Industrial Base in Hefei, and a 10-billion-yuan input to boost Lenovo Group's smart products at its subsidiary of LCFC (Hefei) Electronics, Anhui Executive Vice-Governor Deng Xiangyang said on Tuesday.

Reinforcing the importance of the manufacturing sector, participants at the WMC 2019 exhibited their cutting-edge technologies and high-tech advances, showing that manufacturing can shine bright in the industrial landscape, he said.

During the four-day event, over 4,500 participants from 78 countries and regions also toured a themed high-tech exhibition in Hefei, the provincial capital, where delegates from more than 800 enterprises from home and abroad showcased some 2,000 cutting-edge products.

Shown in 10 exhibition areas, the products covered such spheres as world manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing, digital economy, commodity trading and autonomous vehicles, drawing some 350,000 visitors.

President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter on Friday to the WMC 2019, when the event opened, stressing the importance of the manufacturing sector and calling for greater global cooperation to jointly seize the opportunities arising from China's new round of scientific and industrial advances.

Also last week, during his three-day inspection tour in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan province, Xi reiterated the importance of developing the real economy by bolstering manufacturing to enhance high-quality economic growth.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the added value of China's manufacturing industry surpassed that of the United States for the first time in 2010, becoming the world's largest manufacturing nation.

The added-value of China's manufacturing, topping the whole world for nine years, exceeding 26 trillion yuan in 2018, accounting for 26 percent of the corresponding global figure, State Councilor Wang Yong said at the opening ceremony of WMC 2019.

President Xi has stressed many times that the manufacturing sector is the base of a nation's development and innovation-driven development is the core of manufacturing development, Wang said.

The president's letter has provided a "new orientation" and can serve as a navigator in boosting Anhui's high-quality development of the manufacturing industry, said Yu Aihua, a member of the Standing Committee of Anhui Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the province's publicity chief, on Tuesday.

Last year, when the first WMC opened in Hefei, a total of 436 projects with investments of 447.1 billion yuan were signed when the event concluded, and over 92 percent of them had finished business registration by the end of July, according to Zhang Jian, head of Anhui provincial bureau of commerce.

Stressing that Anhui is rather strong in basic research and focusing on major scientific and technological innovations, Anhui Party secretary Li Jinbin said the province has maintained a global leading position in its achievements in quantum communication, steady-state high magnetic fields, fusion energy and brain-like intelligence.

The East Chinese province will adhere to President Xi's call to bolster manufacturing to enhance high-quality economic growth, Li said.

Anhui Governor Li Guoying noted that the central authorities have urged the province to further consolidate its foundation for manufacturing and extend its industrial chain.

The province will rely on technological innovation to promote industrial innovation, with priorities on strengthening key technologies in such fields as smart home appliances, electronic information, new energy vehicles, industrial robots and artificial intelligence, the governor said.