OREANDA-NEWS. While the curtain fell on the 8th Central China Expo in Henan province yesterday, its virtual booths will not be closed until the 9th expo opens. That offers considerable chances for Anhui-based governments and businesses attending the event to continue seeking investment partners for more than 2,800 projects.

Roughly 60 percent of 27 major projects are related to manufacturing, indicating that the province is determined to boost the sector.

Those manufacturing projects are environment-friendly and technology-intensive. Wuhu, for example, is wooing potential investors for its 1 billion-dollar industrial park devoted to circular economy, and Ma'anshan is seeking funding for production facilities for iron-based new materials.

According to the provincial government's five-year program, up to 516 billion yuan (USD 83 billion) will be spent in improving technologies in equipment manufacturing, the major part of the manufacturing sector, from 2011 to 2015.

In its another bid to promote the development of the industry, the government kicked off the Central China manufacturing expo a couple of days ago. Sales of made-in-Anhui machine tools and industrial controls are picking up, the organizer said at the event, which is slated to run through Wednesday.