Chinese, European firms to embrace more opportunities in manufacturing industry

BEIJING, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Enterprises from China and Europe in the advanced manufacturing industry will gain new development opportunities amid flourishing cooperation between the two parties stimulated by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), officials said at an online press conference.

More cutting-edge equipment and manufacturing technologies are in high demand across China, as the country is strengthening efforts to modernize its manufacturing industry chain in line with its 14th Five-Year (2021-2025) Plan, said Mao Yufeng, a senior official with the China Machine Tool & Tool Builders' Association, at the press conference on the EMO MILANO 2021, an international trade fair for machine tools.

The remarks were echoed by several European counterparts. "China is currently in the stage of its industrial structure upgrading," said Gianpaolo Bruno, director of the Italian Trade Agency in Beijing, adding that this will significantly drive the demand for high-performance machine tools.

"China, being the world's largest producer and consumer of machine tools, is a top priority of Italy's machine tool builders' internationalization strategy," Bruno said.

In 2019, China absorbed almost 20 billion euros (about 23.8 billion U.S. dollars) worth of global machine tools, accounting for 27.2 percent of the global total, according to Bruno.

Against the backdrop of the struggling global economy hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of Italian companies, attracted by the huge Chinese consumer market, have decided to attend the China International Machine Tool Show 2021 that will open on April 12, Mao said.

While giving full play to practical cooperation via platforms including the BRI, Chinese and Italian companies in the machine tools field can both enhance their competitiveness in the global market, Mao said.