China's Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan Tuesday sent a congratulatory letter to the opening of the 2007 China International Industry Fair (CIIF) in Shanghai.

In the letter, Zeng said China's largest international industry expo, the CIIF, had, since it was initiated in 1999, actively promoted scientific and technological innovation in China, facilitating Sino-foreign exchange and cooperation in industrial fields and helping Chinese industrial enterprises to enter international markets.

He stressed that efforts should be made nationwide to implement the outlook on scientific development, improve China's capability of independent innovation, rejuvenate the equipment manufacturing sector and upgrade traditional industries with new and high technologies.

He hoped the CIIF would improve itself as a nexus between Chinese and foreigners in industrial technical exchanges and make new contributions to the process of upgrading the pattern of economic development.

The five-day event is jointly sponsored by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Information Industry, the Ministry of Education, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the municipal government of Shanghai as well as by some other institutions.

(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2007)