WUHAN - The 9th Central China Expo scheduled for May will boost regional opening-up, said organizers on Thursday.

The event will be held at the International Expo Center in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province from May 18 to 20. It will attract more than 60 large state-owned enterprises as well as around 150 global top-500 companies.

Participants include business delegations from six central China provinces, other Chinese provinces and regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.

The event will consist of more than 20 seminars and trade talks on financial services, automobiles and parts, e-commerce, the creative cultural industry and tourism, said Lu Yanqun, head of the Hubei Provincial Commerce Department.

The event aims to boost trade activities and draw domestic and foreign investment into central regions, which China has planned to build into favorable destinations for industrial transfers from coastal areas.

China set out its "Rise of Central China" strategy in 2004. The six central provinces of Shanxi, Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei are home to one-fourth of China's population and account for one-fifth of the country's economic output.