The fourth Central China Expo has opened in Hefei in the capital city of Anhui Province. The three-day expo attracts businesspeople from both home and abroad. Participants are seeking opportunities in the vast central region amid the global financial crisis.

This year's Central China Expo has attracted a total of 16-thousand businesspeople, including those from large multinationals and domestic magnates.

As a result of the global financial crisis, more and more Chinese companies are turning to the domestic market. The country's vast central region, with a population of nearly 400 million is especially tempting for them.

Qiu Guoyue, director of comprehensive dept. Xiamen City Trade Dev't Bureau, says, "many export-oriented companies from Xiamen are attending the Expo. In fact, enterprises in our city are working hard to explore both domestic and international markets."

So far, Anhui Province alone has seen signed agreements on over 130 large investment projects. Most investors are from coastal regions in East China, such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

Hu Haiping, executive president of Shanshan Enterprise, says, "privately-owned companies in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces have started to transfer their market focus to the central region. If we don't seize the opportunities, it will be too late. It is the crisis that has sped up our steps to make shifts from the coastal area to central region."

China's central region includes Shanxi, Henan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces. The area covers more than 10 percent of the country's land... and comprises more than a quarter of its population. And the annual Central China Expo hopes to boost development in the region.

The previous three sessions have attracted more than 30 billion U.S. dollars in foreign investment.

This year's expo is scheduled to conclude on Tuesday.

(CCTV April 28, 2009)