China very important for global industrial production: Hanover Fair chairman

HANOVER, Germany - China is very important for the global industrial production, according to the chairman of the Hanover Fair 2018, the world's leading industrial trade show, which runs from Monday to Friday.

"We are so happy to have such a great attendance from China. We have big brands like Huawei, Haier... After Germany, most exhibitors come from China. It is good for the show," Jochen Koeckler, chairman of Managing Board of Deutsche Messe responsible for the trade fair, said in an interview with Xinhua during the fair.

Koeckler said that some Chinese big brands, providing interesting technologies for the world, are very good and competitive.

"We are happy to see these competitions as organizer. Without competition, there is no innovation, no technical progress," he added.

Referring to trade tariffs, Koeckler told Xinhua that tariffs will in a short term protect their own economy, but in a long period make those countries less innovative.

"We are convinced that we do not need tariffs. We need a global exchange of goods that is very good for the global economic growth," he said.

According to Koeckler, the message of this year's fair is human-centric. There are many assistant systems, as well as many cooperative robots.

"The next level of industry 4.0 means that we have the real connection between the human being and the machines, so the factory will not be without human beings, but will be with a lot of workers, and the workers will be assisted by a lot of machines," Koeckler said.

More than 5,000 exhibitors from 75 different nations and regions are presenting technologies for tomorrow's factories and energy systems from April 23 to 27.

Some 60 percent of these exhibitors come from outside Germany. The top exhibiting nations after Germany are China, and Mexico, the official partner country of this year's fair.