CIIE organizers bullish on 2021 event

By XING YI in Shanghai | China Daily | Updated:Jul 27, 2021

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Visitors gather at a warm-up event of the fourth China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Monday. GAO ERQIANG/CHINA DAILY

Officials: Prestigious annual trade expo to boost confidence in global economy

The fourth China International Import Expo will open in Shanghai on \r\nNov 5 and is expected to continue to inject vitality into the global \r\neconomy, said its organizers 100 days before it gets underway.

Sun Chenghai, deputy director-general of the CIIE Bureau, said the \r\nsuccess of organizing the expo last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic \r\nboosted confidence in the world economy.

"This year's expo will strive to become a window for China's new \r\ndevelopment pattern and contribute to promote an open global economy," \r\nSun said.

Sun added that the expo's business exhibition will be 360,000 square \r\nmeters, allowing thousands of exhibitors from around the world to meet \r\ntens of thousands of domestic buyers.

"Around 80 percent of our exhibitors are repeat exhibitors, and there\r\n are also new faces-this year's new exhibitors include 30 Fortune 500 \r\ncompanies and industrial pacesetters," he said.

Green products and low-carbon development will be highlighted at this\r\n year's expo with a special committee formed by exhibitors involved in \r\nthe new energy sector and carbon reduction technologies, and a new zone \r\nto display their related products has been set up.

Trade promotion agencies from Japan, Poland, Denmark and New Zealand \r\nhave expanded their exhibition scale, and will invite more small and \r\nmedium-sized enterprises featuring their own country's unique products \r\nto participate in the expo, Sun said.

"The world's Top 10 carmakers, cosmetics groups and industrial \r\nelectrical equipment companies will all meet here in Shanghai in \r\nNovember," he added.

The bureau has organized 10 roadshows across the country-including \r\ntrips to Changsha, Hunan province, and Chengdu, Sichuan province-and \r\narranged matchmaking sessions for consumer goods, foodstuffs, \r\nagricultural products as well as healthcare and medical equipment.

"We will invite more professional visitors and precisely pair \r\nexhibitors and buyers so as to make doing business easier," Sun said, \r\nadding that the bureau has published information on 264 exhibits from 64\r\n exhibitors on the expo's website.

In addition to business exhibitions, more than 50 countries have \r\nconfirmed plans to open virtual pavilions on the expo's official website\r\n to introduce their leading industries. Offline activities will also be \r\norganized by related parties during the expo.

As part of the event, the Hongqiao International Economic Forum will \r\nbe themed around global economic cooperation in the post-pandemic era, \r\nand many sub-forums will be held on building a new development paradigm \r\nand global governance in sectors such as public health, climate change \r\nand digital economy.

Gu Honghui, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai municipal \r\ngovernment, said the city government will hold two sub-forums-one on the\r\n high-level opening-up of the Pudong New Area and the other on the \r\nHongqiao International Hub for opening-up and regional integrated \r\ndevelopment.

"We should make full use of the CIIE and the Hongqiao forum as \r\nplatforms to make Shanghai a distribution center of goods from the \r\nYangtze River Delta region, across the country and connecting the \r\nAsia-Pacific region," Gu said.

To expand the spillover effect of the expo, Shanghai has built 56 \r\nyear-round exhibition centers to display nearly 180,000 CIIE exhibits \r\nfrom 1,390 exhibitors.

Zhou Lan, deputy director of the municipal commerce commission, said \r\nCIIE exhibitors have also become investors since the expo's first \r\nedition in 2018.

"From 2018 to June, Shanghai has witnessed the signing of 328 \r\ninvestment projects worth $60.35 billion, including Legoland Shanghai \r\nand AstraZeneca's global research and development center," Zhou said.

Jean-Philippe Poulin, president of Lesaffre China, who has \r\nparticipated in the expo since its inception, said the expo is not only \r\nan ideal platform to showcase innovative products, but also a place to \r\nlearn about the good practices in the Chinese market.

"I will go to the company's headquarters in France soon, and I will \r\nbring back the knowledge learned from China-the agility, flexibility and\r\n adaptability to market change is something the Chinese people could \r\nshare with the rest of the world," he said.

"I will definitely try to come to the expo in November."

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