The 1st Shanxi Characteristic Professional Town Investment and Trade Expo opens in Datong on June 28. [Photo/Yellow River News] 

The 1st Shanxi Characteristic Professional Town Investment and Trade Expo recently opened in Datong, North China's Shanxi province.

Envoys from various countries as well as foreign partners, experts, scholars, and professionals from China and overseas attended the expo, along with insiders and representatives of enterprises from more than 90 characteristic professional towns across the province.

The expo, jointly sponsored by the Shanxi Department of Industry and Information Technology, Shanxi Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shanxi Department of Culture and Tourism, and Shanxi Department of Commerce, aimed to promote characteristic industries and products in Shanxi. It also boosted exchanges and cooperation among domestic and foreign companies, and helped to develop local characteristic professional towns as new industrial clusters of manufacturing and consumer goods in northern China.

Various industrial products from characteristic professional towns in Shanxi are on display at the expo. [Photo/Yellow River News]

During the three-day expo, a keynote forum was held as well as six themed forums on manufacturing, specialty lighting, premium agriculture, exhibitions, conventions, and Fenjiu liquor. 

These showcased the achievements of characteristic professional towns' development in Shanxi, while providing a platform for exchanges between participating enterprises, experts and scholars. They also facilitated the collection of new ideas for the future development of Shanxi's characteristic professional towns. 

Since last year, the province has taken such towns as a means to promote high-quality regional economic development and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system with local characteristics. Supportive policies and special funds have been introduced to fully propel the development of these towns. 

So far, 10 provincial-level characteristic professional towns, highlighting industries such as Fenjiu liquor, flanges, and malleable iron, as well as 82 municipal-level characteristic professional towns, have been recognized.