The Fifth Shanghai International Industry Fair opened yesterday, strongly signaling the increasingly important role of domestic and foreign advanced technologies in reshaping China's industrial sector.

Over 1,100 companies and institutions from home and abroad have been attracted to the six-day event, held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, with a total exhibition area of about 62,500 square metres.

Within the scope of its traditional theme of the interaction between information technology and industrialization, the event this time is putting its focus on the modern equipment industry, which is in accordance with the ongoing trend of the global manufacturing sector's relocation to China, said organizers.

"We expect the fair to be a platform for technology exchange, trade discussions and the attraction of more foreign investment,'' said Vice-Mayor Tang Dengjie.

With notable contributions in the areas of technical transfer and equity transactions, deals worth about 43.5 billion yuan (US$5.26 billion) were inked during the fair last year, a jump of 39 per cent over figures for 2001.

The Shanghai Technology Stock Exchange yesterday reported that deals worth more than 317 million yuan (US$38 million) were sealed on the first day of the fair.

Organizers have said their long-term aim is to turn the event into something that matches the Hanover Fair, a world-famous industrial exhibition held in that German city.

The eye-catching presence of a slew of big-name domestic and foreign industrial players and institutions, including GE, Baosteel, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and BASF, makes the Shanghai show seem something like an "Eastern Hanover Fair.''

On the exhibitors' poshly-decorated stands and pavilions, cutting-edge technologies and novel products in such areas as industrial equipment, electronics, transport and pharmaceuticals have attracted thousands of visitors.

The Automation and Drives Group (A&D) under German industrial giant Siemens, for example, brought to the event its Exider, a special train filled with what the company says is over 40,000 of the latest automation technologies and industrial solutions by Siemens.

On its global roadshow tour, the train is expected to help create more exchange between domestic industrial companies and their foreign counterparts like Siemens -- especially on the side of automation -- and that exchange is quite crucial, as China is "such a huge market'' for advanced industrial technologies, said Siegfried Schmidt, general manager of Siemens' A&D group in China.

Organizers said over 310 overseas exhibitors, a rise of 12 per cent over last year's numbers, are attending the fair.

Apart from the noteworthy presence of overseas exhibitors, the fair also features the presence of a big number of industrial firms from Northeast China's Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin provinces, a sign that the provinces are stepping up their efforts to rejuvenate the traditional industrial sector in their region.

Close

Today's Top News		Top Business News
+Investment from abroad welcomed ( 2003-11-06) +US trip lays groundwork for 6-party talks ( 2003-11-06) +Cold grips North China; flowers blossom in South ( 2003-11-06) +New licensing law cuts through gov't red tape ( 2003-11-07) +Pricing, entry to be loosened ( 2003-11-06)		+Exhibition pushes tech exchange ( 2003-11-07) +Caterpillar hooks up with local firm ( 2003-11-07) +Sinochem Corp makes its move ( 2003-11-07) +FT: China on way to being world trade superpower ( 2003-11-06) +Principal focuses on the long term ( 2003-11-06)