The city of Zhongshan in Guangdong province continues to attract interested businesspeople and investment to its annual event - the Zhongshan Trade, Investment and Top Talent Fair.

This year's fair, which opened on Wednesday, pays special attention to businesspeople from developed countries in Europe and America, said Ouyang Jinquan, head of the Zhongshan bureau of commerce.

He said exhibitions at the fair focus primarily on cooperation with Europe and the Americas, as well as innovation-driven development.

The city previously attracted investment mostly from Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. It has paid more attention to Europe and America since last year to develop local emerging industries such as advanced manufacturing and medicines.

Zhongshan's Party chief Xue Xiaofeng and the Mayor Chen Liangxian have led teams to visit Europe, the United States and Canada to promote the city to more entrepreneurs. Those visits laid a solid foundation for the 2016 fair.

A China-Europe forum on the central government's Internet plus strategy, energy saving and environmental protection was held on Thursday. There was also a research tour of the city's Tsuihang New Area for overseas businesspeople.

Ouyang said projects signed at this year's fair involved high-end fields such as health and medicines, advanced equipment manufacturing and new materials. These include 24 health and pharmaceutical projects worth about $550 million, accounting for about 8.7 percent of the total investment at the fair.

Projects in ecotourism, modern logistics, e-commerce and commercial services were also initiated at the fair. The Ego Group from Zhejiang province committed to invest 1.6 billion yuan ($245.8 million) to build an e-commerce industrial park in Zhongshan.

A project to be financed by Shenzhen-based Huaxun Fangzhou Co was the biggest investment deal signed at this year's fair, totaling more than 3.16 billion yuan. It involves research and development related to radar and unmanned aircraft communications.

Nearly 600 delegates from 42 countries and regions attended the second Zhongshan Consultative Conference on the Economic Development and Foreign Enterprises Forum on Wednesday. This was one of the largest international promotion activities that Zhongshan has hosted for attracting investment, Ouyang said.

The top talent fair, also called the third Top Talent Networking Zhongshan, was also an important part of the event. Hong Yan, head of the city's human resources and social security bureau, said that this year's talent fair focuses on individuals and teams that have a strong intention to innovate and start businesses in Zhongshan.

Hong said the event aims to more efficiently attract professionals this year.

Participants at another forum discussed how to improve Zhongshan's innovation and entrepreneurship environment. Articles written by theoretical researchers were provided to the forum for discussion.

A conference was also held to promote research cooperation between industry and universities and innovation-driven development in Zhongshan.

Zhongshan, the home city of modern China's founding father Sun Yat-sen, is an important advanced manufacturing and modern services hub in Guangdong. Ten industrial clusters flourish in the city, including equipment manufacturing, electronics and telecommunications, home appliances as well as textiles and clothing.