$88b investment deals inked at World Manufacturing Convention

HEFEI -- More than 600 projects with a total investment of 600 billion yuan ($87.7 billion) were signed Saturday during the online World Manufacturing Convention held in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province.

China's domestic market has huge growth potential and the development of the country's manufacturing industry will bring the world greater investment opportunities and broader investment prospects under the new economic development pattern of "dual circulation," said Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen at the opening ceremony of the convention's Jianghuai Online Economic Forum.

Xu Lijin, chairman of Efort Intelligent Equipment Co Ltd, who took part in the online deals signing, said he has full confidence in the future as China's economy is resilient and dynamic.

The World Manufacturing Convention was held online for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It focused on promoting high-quality growth of manufacturing and digital economy as well as on guiding the digital eocnomy to deeply integrate with the real economy.

Zhang Xi, vice governor of Anhui Province, said 1,073 projects with a total investment of 962.2 billion yuan were signed during the World Manufacturing Convention in 2018 and 2019.

By the end of August, 1,008 projects had finished company registrations and 880 projects had started construction, Zhang said.