The 2018 Conference of Great Business Partners (CGPB) will open in Jinan, East China's Shandong province on Sept 28, with a series of forums and activities set to take place over the course of three days to promote the province's conversion of new and old growth drivers.

A total of 1,183 guests from home and abroad had signed up for the CGPB by Sept 24, including 84 representatives from Fortune 500 firms (including the United States technology giant Hewlett Packard Inc and Mitsubishi Motors Corp), 115 from China's top 500 companies (including the home appliance company Haier and Chinese optical cable provider Futong Group), four Nobel Prize winners, and 24 academicians from renowned domestic and overseas scientific research institutions.

In addition, 3,500 experts and entrepreneurs have also been invited to attend the forums of the CGPB, to share their ideas on the latest cutting-edge technologies, exchange opinions on developmental trends, and give suggestions on accelerating Shandong's conversion of new and old growth drivers and its high-quality development.

The forums, focusing on the fields of high-end equipment, new energy, new material, chemical engineering, modern agriculture, cultural creativity, tourism, and financial services, will also be a platform for the introduction and signing of projects. A total of 600 projects will be introduced at the CGPB and 130 will then be signed, with the contract value amounting to 536.62 billion yuan ($77.78 billion).

According to Li Boping, official of human resources and social security department of Shandong province, the CGPB is also a platform for talents' recruitment. A total of 4,700 jobs will be posted at the conference.

The press conference for the launch of the 2018 Conference of Great Business Partners is held in Jinan, Shandong province on Sept 25. [Photo/iqilu.com]