The fourth Expo Central China 2009 will be held in Hefei, Anhui province, from April 26 to 28 with the theme of "innovation, cooperation, rising up and win-win."

The trade show highlights business opportunities in the heartland of China - the provinces of Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan, which together have an area of 1.03 million sq km and a population of 361 million.

A Central China Business Summit at the expo will explore opportunities in capital restructuring and relocation of coastal industries inland in keeping with a 2006 central government plan to promote development of the region.

With a favorable climate and resources, the economy of Central China is based on agricultural products, energy, raw materials and equipment manufacturing.

Among the six provinces, Anhui - close to the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang as well as Shanghai - has advantages to make it the highlight of the expo.

New stage of development

In the hinterland of the Yangtze River Delta, Anhui has entered a new stage of industrialization that will be on show to domestic and foreign investors at the expo.

Anhui's economy has risen sharply following China's reform and opening-up, with its GDP increasing faster than the national average.

Its GDP has grown more than 10 percent annually for the past five years and reached 12.7 percent in 2008.

Last year the inland province began to seize opportunities presented by relocating coastal industries and those from abroad.

The province generated total revenue of 132.6 billion yuan in 2008, up 28.2 percent. With the implementation of its "Livelihood Project", per capita disposable income of urban residents rose 13.2 percent and that in rural regions increased 18.1 percent.

Anhui is now accelerating development with new industries at the Wanjiang experimental site and Hefei-Wuhu-Bengbu innovation center.

This weekend's expo will showcase state-of-the-art industries in the province, among which machinery, household appliances, chemicals, energy and raw materials are among the nation's most competitive.

Maanshan Steel, Tongling Nonferrous Metals, Conch Cement, Chery Automobile, JAC Motors, BBCA Biochemical and Heli Forklift have been evolved into well-known brands both at home and abroad.

New Anhui enterprises include those in electronics, IT, new materials and bio-engineering.

Anhui has provided services and policies to attract overseas investors, with 44 of the world's top 500 companies now operating in the province. Some are exhibitors at the trade gala and their stories are expected to attract more enterprises to invest.

Top resources

The expo will also exhibit the province's abundant resources:

Land: Anhui is fertile and suitable for various kinds of crops. Grains are planted across 5.73 million hectares.

As an agricultural center, Anhui led rural reforms more than 30 years ago. Today income for farmers has increased as industrialization of farms continues.

The output of Anhui's grain, oilseeds and cotton ranks among the top in China.

Human resources: Hefei, capital of Anhui province, used to be the first pilot city for national science and technology innovation, from which a reservoir of talent has emerged.

Scientific research institutes and schools in the province that supply a large, highly competent labor force include the University of Science and Technology of China, the Hefei Institute of Physical Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Hefei University of Technology and the Anhui University.

Anhui is also famous for its ancient business people - the Huishang, or Hui Merchants.

"Enterprising, innovative, cooperative and honest" were characteristics of Huishang that have been inherited by the modern people of Anhui.

Water: About 71.6 billion cubic meters of water is available in the province along with systems for flood control and irrigation.

Animals and plants: The forest coverage in the whole province is 3.6 million hectares. Varieties of plants include more than 300 kinds of woody plants and more than 2,100 types of herbs. It is home to more than 500 species, including 91 nationally protected animals such as the Chinese alligator and white fin globefish.

Minerals: More than 135 kinds of minerals have been found in the province, 105 of which have verified reserves.

A total of 38 minerals rank the top 10 of reserves in the whole country and 18 of them among the top five. Its coal, iron, copper, sulfur and alum are among the top for those resources in China.

Science and education: Anhui is ranked at the top for science and technical graduates. By the end of 2008, there were 1.34 million technical workers and 1,100 scientific research centers in the province.

Optimized infrastructure

Several exhibitions at the expo will show infrastructure of the province that aids its investment climate.

Highways: Anhui has built 2,500 km expressways covering 17 cities in the province. It takes three hours to drive from west to the east and six hours from north to the south of the province.

Railways: With rail lines of the Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Kowloon, Lianyungang-Lanzhou, Nanjing-Xi'an passing through, Anhui has one of the most dense and lengthy rail systems in Central China.

A new "multiple unit" train with the highest speed in China runs from the province's capital and other cities to Shanghai and Wuhan.

It now only takes an hour by rail from Anhui to Nanjing and two hours to Shanghai and Wuhan.

The Anhui section of the Beijing-Shanghai expressway is now under construction, as are the Nanjing-Anqing and Hefei-Bengbu lines. When completed they will shorten the time from Hefei to Beijing to three hours.

Airways: Six airports in Anhui including Hefei, Huangshan and Fuyang, provide direct flights to more than 30 large and medium-sized cities. Xinqiao Airport in Hefei is now under construction.

Water transportation: Three major river systems flow through Anhui - the Yangtze River, Huaihe and Xin'anjiang rivers - that provide potential for further development of inland water transportation.

Ports along the 400 km course of the Yangtze River include Anqing, Tongling, Wuhu, Maanshan and Chizhou.

Posts and telecommunications: Modern communication systems in Anhui province include a program-controlled telephone network, long-distance digital transmission and mobile communications network.

There were 13.8 million fixed-line telephone users, more than 17.1 million mobile phone users and 1.87 million Internet users across the province at the end of 2007.