The Silk Road e-commerce festival recently kicked off at Hongqiao Pinhui – a dedicated exhibition platform for the achievements of the China International Import Expo, or CIIE and its products.

The ongoing event opened its doors in East China's Shanghai on Nov 7 and it will run to Nov 20.

Officials help with the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Silk Road e-commerce festival. [Photo/WeChat account: scofcom]

The festival promises to foster international e-commerce exchanges, facilitate the entry of quality global products into the Chinese consumer market and support Shanghai's role as a pioneer in Silk Road e-commerce.

During the opening ceremony, Shanghai unveiled plans for themed days for four partner countries: New Zealand, Armenia, Chile and Pakistan.

Each day will be spearheaded by a prominent company that will develop synergies for online and on-site activities.

These will introduce to the domestic market specialty products, cuisines, enticing travel options and indigenous culture from countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

The ceremony also witnessed the signing of agreements for the joint development of an international coffee port at Hongqiao Pinhui.

The initiative is expected to enhance Hongqiao Pinhui's capacity to promote the positive effects of the CIIE. It will accelerate its transformation into a prime platform for showcasing CIIE achievements and as a hub for the distribution of Silk Road e-commerce imports.

Over the past decade, China has been the world's largest online retail market. Similarly, Shanghai's e-commerce sector has continued to thrive, with statistics revealing a 22 percent year-on-year increase in online shopping transactions – totaling 1.21 trillion yuan ($166.31 billion) – in the first nine months of the year.

Moreover, Shanghai's livestreaming e-commerce segment is transitioning from rapid development to a focus on quality.

That's as data monitoring of the online retail market for 2022 placed Shanghai at the forefront of live retail sales in urban centers across the country.