2016年CRI Zhuhai plans to create leading base for China's aviation industry（在线收听）

Saturday's debut of the AG-600 has officials in Zhuhai very excited about the potential the aircraft can bring to the city.

Chen Xu is with the Zhuhai Aviation Industrial Park's Management Committee.

"The Zhuhai Aviation Industrial Park is the only one in Guangdong which focuses on general aviation manufacturing, operating and corporate aircraft services. We want Zhuhai to become the biggest industrial base for airplane production in China."

The roll-out of the AG-600 on Saturday is being touted as an important milestone for the advanced equipment manufacturing industry in China.

It's also part of the broader goal of bringing "three big plane projects to the world."

Zhuhai is home to the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition.

China's largest airshow is held in the coastal city every 2 years.

Since the Aviation Industrial Park's creation 7-years ago, Zhuhai has managed to attract some 2.5-billion US dollars worth of investments from aircraft makers.

The AG-600's creator, the China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Corporation, is the major investor in Zhuhai.

Huang Liangcai, chief designer of AG600, says most of the work being done at the site is through Chinese-produced technology.

"To manufacture huge aviation equipment like this, we had to develop our own advanced technology. Simply throwing around money is not able to provide us with our core products and technology. We think our work is demonstrating the strength of our country's abilities."

Authorities in Zhuhai plan to invest another 1 billion U.S. dollars into the Aviation Park over the next 3 to 5 years.

The money is likely to be well-spent.

It's estimated that China is going to require around 200-thousand general-purpose aircraft in the next 30-years.