On May 18, the 2024 Annual Conference of the World Cement Association opened in Nanjing. It was revealed at the conference that in recent years, the pace of “going global” by China's cement companies has continued to accelerate, and they have continued to increase their global investment layout. According to statistics from the Cement Big Data Research Institute, in 2023, domestic cement companies' overseas clinker production capacity expanded to 64.65 million tons, an increase of 35% over the previous year; by the end of March this year, Chinese companies had built 54 cement plants in 21 countries. “Over the past 10 years, China's cement industry has continued to promote digital, intelligent, and green transformation, striving to run side by side and even lead in terms of technology, equipment, and management.” Wei Rushan, chairman of the World Cement Association and deputy general manager of China Building Materials Group Co., Ltd., said in an interview that cement is an important basic raw material for the construction of the national economy, and that the advanced production capacity of the Chinese cement industry is speeding up “going overseas”, which is conducive to enhancing the vitality of the world economy and industry and promoting global infrastructure construction. (Xinhua News Agency)