The National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai. [Photo/ciie.org]

During the novel coronavirus outbreak, business negotiations for the third China International Import Expo (CIIE) are being conducted through non-contact means such as telephone, video communication and email, according to officials.

The promotion work for CIIE is still at the online negotiating stage, so it will not be directly affected by the epidemic, according to Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute at the China Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

"The expo adopts a '6+365 days' mechanism. In addition to offline experiences, there are also online exhibitions. During this period, activities will be carried out flexibly in a variety of ways," Bai said.

Bai also said many enterprises hope to seek business opportunities through the CIIE platform. They are very optimistic about the import opportunities and the increasing spillover effect brought about by the expanding Chinese market.

Industry insiders generally believe that the outbreak will not last long and that the Chinese government is prepared to deal with a variety of complex and difficult situations to prevent economic ups and downs.

According to Bian Yongzu, a researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, outbreak prevention and control has entered a critical period, and China is expected to control the spread of the epidemic in the short term. In the long run, the outbreak will not have a significant impact on China's economic fundamentals.

Before the closing of the second expo on Nov 10, 2019, more than 200 enterprises had signed up to participate in the third one. By the end of January this year, more than 1,000 enterprises had signed up.