As the 2021 World Manufacturing Convention ended on Monday in Hefei, capital of Anhui, by designing a new future for smart manufacturing through world cooperation, global partners vowed to input some 313.9 billion yuan ($49.2 billion) into the province.

The four-day gala, held both offline and online, saw at least 438 cooperative projects signed, empowering the province's manufacturing capabilities.

During the convention, Vice-Premier Liu He told global participants the manufacturing industry, as the "ballast stone" of the economies of major countries, is pivotal in promoting economic growth and enhancing employment quality.

China will continue to firmly promote high-level opening-up, and welcome entrepreneurs the world over to share its immense market opportunities, Liu said. Currently, China is the largest manufacturing country in the world, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Anhui's Party Secretary Zheng Shanjie said manufacturing is the lifeblood of an economy and the foundation in ushering in a strong province.

The province will speed up innovation, and transform more innovative achievements into actual productivity, trying to form some industrial clusters with manufacturing output surpassing 100 billion yuan, or even 1 trillion yuan, he said.

Anhui will take more manufacturing actions to promote high-end production, high-end products, and high-end industrial chains, Zheng said.

Anhui Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology said the province has set up a modern industrial system, covering 40 major sectors, with manufacturing spanning 31.

At this time, it ranks among China's top 10 manufacturing provinces, after racking up manufacturing added value of more than 1 trillion yuan for the first time in 2020.

Former German president Christian Wulff said in a video speech that Anhui is a land very suitable for developing manufacturing industries. The WMC provides a broad exchange platform for in-depth cooperation among global manufacturers.

He hoped the annual event can become better, making contributions to the revitalization of the world economy amid the fourth industrial revolution and in the middle of the COVID-19 era.

Some 550 global representatives attended the opening ceremony. During the past three WMCs, 1,752 projects were signed with a total value of 1.8 trillion yuan. The fifth WMC will open on Sept 20 next year.

(Source: China Daily)