Anhui manufacturing prowess bolstered with annual convention

East China's Anhui province will welcome some 800 participants from around the world during the four-day 2022 World Manufacturing Convention, which opens on Tuesday in Hefei, the provincial capital.

With the theme "Manufacturing for the world, creating a better future", the convention will host 38 business activities at an exhibition area of 74,000 square meters, all divided into two broad categories－government-led exhibitions and market-oriented exhibitions.

The 2022 WMC, offering a panorama of global manufacturing know-how and cutting-edge technologies from 641 participating enterprises, is co-sponsored by the Anhui government, various central government agencies as well as global industry associations.

During the past four annual WMCs, a total of 2,455 deals were signed in Anhui with total investment of 2.38 trillion yuan ($344.9 billion), greatly boosting the province's manufacturing prowess.

The 2022 WMC is expected to complete 568 deals with total investment of 367.7 billion yuan, including eight agreements having input of over 10 billion yuan each, said the Anhui Provincial Information Office.

The Anhui Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology said that after years of development, the province has set up a modern industrial system covering 40 major industry sectors, among which manufacturing spans 31 major industries.

With the help of the WMC, Anhui has witnessed steady progress in bolstering high-quality development of its manufacturing industry, said Niu Nutao, director of APDEIT.

As a major manufacturing province in China, Niu said Anhui has seen its added value for all industries, its manufacturing and its digital economy each exceed 1 trillion yuan.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the added value of China's manufacturing sector reached 31.4 trillion yuan in 2021.

In 2021, Anhui's output of refrigerators, washing machines, TVs and air conditioners ranked second in the country, Niu said.

Niu added that in the past 10 years, Anhui has cultivated 14 industries worth 100 billion yuan each and set up 15 national new-type industrialization demonstration bases.

There are five enterprises in Anhui with operating incomes exceeding 100 billion yuan each and 50 enterprises with 10 billion yuan each in operating income, he said.

In addition to the eight enterprises included among the Top 500 enterprises in China, he said, Conch Group ranked 315th on the Fortune Global 500 List of 2021 while Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group has made the list for three consecutive years.

Anhui's Party Secretary Zheng Shanjie has called for elevating the WMC into the largest and most open platform in Anhui to boost industrial innovation and keep abreast of emerging industries and core technologies.

It is imperative to improve the internationalization of Anhui cities, effectively handle its pilot free trade zone, and elevate the level of its opening-up to the outside world, thus striving to create a modern and beautiful Anhui, Zheng said.

Anhui Governor Wang Qingxian said technological innovation is an outstanding advantage of Anhui's development, and it is necessary to make investment and project management the core of economic work in the province.

Government-led exhibitions will showcase the achievements of the nation's manufacturing industry, manufacturing in the Yangtze River Delta and manufacturing in Anhui. Meanwhile, a series of exhibits showcasing the leading manufacturers at home and abroad will be displayed.

In the market-oriented exhibition area, the 2022 China International Mechanical and Electrical Products Fair & Advanced Manufacturing Expo, the 2022 China Anhui International Plastics Industry Expo and the International (Hefei) Energy Conservation and the New Energy Automobile Exhibition will make their appearances.