The 2006 China International Industry Fair concluded on Sunday in Shanghai, highlighting technological innovation.

The area catering to products with new innovation alone covered more than 20,000 square meters. Nearly 90 percent of exhibits displayed state of the art or new technologies at the fair, which attracted 2,000 companies from 22 countries and regions.

"It is an opportunity for the equipment and manufacturing industry of China to conduct scientific and technological exchanges and expand trade and economic cooperation with other countries and regions," said Xiong Bilin, deputy secretary-general of the organizing committee.

Vice Premier Huang Ju attended the opening session on Nov. 1, while Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan sent a congratulatory letter to the five-day event.

In the letter, Zeng called on the fair's organizers to turn the event into a name brand exhibition on the international stage.

Solar batteries, digital machine tools, sewage treatment equipment and power-generating facilities were displayed at the fair.

China initiated the Shanghai International Industry Fair in 1999 and its name was changed this year with the approval of the State Council, China's highest governing body.

The fair was co-sponsored by the National Development and Reform Commission, the ministries of commerce, science and technology, information industry, education, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the Shanghai municipal government.

The next fair is scheduled for Nov. 7-11, 2007.