The 2019 China Haimen Trade and Investment Fair was held in Haimen, a county-level city in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province, from April 10 to 12.

The event consisted of promotional conferences on a local robot town and the cultural and tourism industries, a seminar on capital markets, and a forum on the innovative development of rural areas. Around 280 merchants from home and abroad attended.

The three-day event saw the signing of 21 projects worth more than 35 billion yuan ($5.22 billion) involving things like intelligent manufacturing, biomedicine, semiconductors, and robots.

The fair has been held for 24 consecutive years since 1996 and has paralleled the impressive progress the county has made since then.

Haimen’s gross regional product reached 124.9 billion yuan in 2018, 18.6 times higher than in 1996, while the average disposable income among urban and rural residents reached 47,900 yuan and 24,700 yuan, respectively, growing 640 percent and 340 percent over the past 24 years.

A total of 736 foreign-invested companies have set up operations in the county, including eight of the world's top 500 companies and 18 State-owned enterprises. 

The 2019 China Haimen Trade and Investment Fair is held in Haimen, a county-level city in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province, on April 10. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]