The three-day Central China Expo ended in Hefei, capital of the Anhui province on Tuesday, with contracts worth more than 27 billion U.S. dollars signed.

At the expo, China's six central provinces - Henan, Shanxi, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui - got foreign investment of 6.37 billion U.S. dollars.

They also inked contracts with domestic companies from other parts of China, drawing an investment of 144.9 billion yuan (about 21.3 billion U.S. dollars).

The region, with six provinces and considered to be central China, covers 1.03 million square kilometers and its population accounts for 28 percent of China's total. Its provincial economies make up 20 percent of the national total. It is a major grain production base, an important transport hub and a leading energy and raw materials supplier.

The Central China Expo was co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce, the state administrations of taxation, for industry and commerce, tourism, and radio, film and television, as well as governments of the six provinces.

The Expo attracted 16,000 business people, including representatives from 300 of the "Fortune 500" multinational corporations such as Carrefour and IBM.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2009)