DAMMAM, Saudi Arabia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 24, 2024--
The 2024 Zhejiang (Saudi Arabia) International Engineering Exhibition successfully concluded on November 21 at the Dhahran International Exhibition Center in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Organized by the Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province and executed by the Zhejiang International Contractors Association and Hangzhou Boheng Business Exhibition Co., Ltd., the event was held in parallel with the influential Saudi Arabia (Dammam) Construction and Building Materials Exhibition.
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The Zhejiang delegation showcased a unified exhibition space, featuring 10 leading enterprises and 20 participants across a 105-square-meter area. Over the course of the four-day event, Zhejiang companies engaged with over 920 professional visitors from 12 countries and regions, achieving potential cooperation agreements valued at USD 5.7 million.
This exhibition highlights Zhejiang's continued commitment to global collaboration in engineering and construction. In recent years, the province has implemented significant initiatives under its "Groundnut Economy" and "No. 1 Opening-up Project," driving substantial growth in the international contracting sector. In 2023, Zhejiang’s foreign engineering projects secured new contracts worth USD 4.92 billion, reflecting a 7.4% year-on-year increase, while cumulative turnover reached USD 6.94 billion, an 8.4% rise. These achievements have solidified Zhejiang’s position as a leader in the industry, ranking fifth all provinces (municipalities) and advancing one position from the previous year.
Hangzhou Boheng Business Exhibition Co. Ltd served as the official media partner for the event.
Image caption - Shaping Smart Green Future with Zhejiang (Photo: Business Wire)
TENERIFE, Canary Islands (AP) — Passengers started disembarking on Sunday from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship anchored off Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, hours after arriving there as evacuation plans got underway.
An Associated Press journalist at the scene said that some people were seen reaching land after leaving the ship. Nobody among the more than 140 people on the MV Hondius is showing symptoms of the virus, Spanish authorities, the World Health Organization and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said.
Spain’s health ministry said that Spanish nationals would be the first to leave the ship, and would be ferried off in small launch boats that carry between five and 10 people.
The cruise ship reached Tenerife early Sunday morning, after leaving Cape Verde on May 6.
Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus, which can cause life-threatening illness.
Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms, and were being taken off the ship once evacuation flights were ready to fly them to their destinations.
“The entire operation is proceeding normally,” Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said.
Authorities are aiming to complete the evacuation flights between Sunday and Monday, Spanish authorities and WHO said.
There are people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s health and interior ministers, will supervise the operation in Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa. Authorities have said the passengers and crew members who will disembark will have no contact with the local population.
Hantavirus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
The Spanish nationals on board will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined, authorities said. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.
Only Spanish nationals will quarantine in Spain, the cruise operator said.
Some Spanish passengers aboard the ship told The Associated Press that they’re concerned about being stigmatized once back on shore.
The U.S., the U.K. and the Netherlands have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans on board will be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.
Twenty-nine people will be on board the Dutch charter flight, including Dutch nationals and people of other nationalities, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said.
Five French passengers will be repatriated today, and will be in hospital for 72 hours for monitoring, after which they will quarantine at home for 45 days, France's Foreign Ministry said.
U.K. passengers and crew will be hospitalized for observation once they are flown home, British authorities say.
Australia is sending a plane expected to arrive Monday to evacuate its nationals and those from nearby countries like New Zealand, García said. Its plane will be the last to leave Tenerife, she said.
Norway has sent an ambulance plane to Tenerife with personnel trained for the transport of patients with high-risk infections, its Directorate for Civil Protection told public broadcaster NRK.
The ambulance plane is owned by the European Union, but operated by Norway.
Passengers and crew members disembarking will leave behind their luggage, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.
Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to Rotterdam, Netherlands where it will undergo disinfection, Spanish authorities said.
The expected sailing time to Rotterdam is around five days, the cruise company said.
Suman Naishadham reported from Madrid. Angela Charlton in Paris, Jill Lawless in London, and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, contributed to this report.
A passenger waves to the Guardia Civil officers as they are disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
Passengers watch as others are disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
Passengers are disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
Passengers are disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Passengers stand on the deck of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius after its arrival at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Passengers are being disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
A Civil Guard border police stands guard following the arrival of hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
Civil Guard border police officers following the arrival of hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
Passengers and crew at the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius after arriving at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Passengers at the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius after arriving at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A passenger stands at the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius after its arrival at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Civil Guard officers patrol next to the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius after its arrival at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
View from the bridge of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius after its arrival at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, takes a photo of the ship's weighing anchor in Praia, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Passengers on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, watch epidemiologists board the boat in Praia, during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
The hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius is seen at anchor after arriving at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
The hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius is seen at anchor after arriving at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
The hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius is seen at anchor after arriving at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Workers set up temporary shelters in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, speaks to the media near the area where passengers from the MV Hondius are expected to arrive at the port of Port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
The hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius is seen at anchor after arriving at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)