More than 30 companies and institutions, including French luxury goods group LVMH Group, have signed agreements to attend the fifth China International Import Expo. It shows the firm confidence of all parties to participate in the expo and their optimism about the Chinese market, according to the briefing for the fifth CIIE and the signing ceremony held online on Tuesday.
Sheng Qiuping, vice-minister of commerce, attended the event and delivered a speech. He said that over the past five years, the CIIE has held high the banner of opening-up and helped deepen international procurement, investment promotion, cultural exchanges and open cooperation. It has connected the Chinese and global markets, integrated international industrial development, promoted innovation and aligned domestic regulations with international economic and trade rules.
The five-year history of the CIIE is an epitome of China's continuous opening-up in the new era, Sheng said.
He said the event is an important witness to enterprises, countries and regions sharing development opportunities and achieving mutual benefits and win-win results. The CIIE is not only China's, but also the world's.
As a platform for building a new development paradigm, the expo will continue to promote the dual-circulation development pattern involving both the domestic and international markets, tighten economic ties between China and foreign countries and regions, and provide broader market opportunities for other countries and regions, Sheng added.
Sun Chenghai, deputy director of the CIIE Bureau, said that the fifth CIIE will be held on Nov 5-10 and all preparations are progressing smoothly.
According to Sun, new subsections focusing on crop seeds and artificial intelligence are being set up in the business exhibition, and the Innovation Incubation Subsection is continuing to expand. Two hundred and sixty of the world's top 500 and industry-leading enterprises have signed contracts.
The Hongqiao Forum will continue to release the World Openness Report 2022 and the World Openness Index in a bid to build a "weather vane" for the common opening-up of the world; a "barometer" for China's high-level opening-up; and an "authoritative brand" of the Hongqiao Forum.
Countries and regions willing to participate in the exhibition will use the official website of the expo to hold exhibitions online. Many countries have confirmed their participation so far.
The fifth CIIE has taken practical measures in support of policies, transactions and procurement, as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges, striving to achieve better support and service, more results and a greater sense of gain for all parties, Sun said.
Among the contracted enterprises, there are not only old friends, such as Bristol Myers Squibb and Marubeni who have participated in the expo many times, but new friends such as Gilead Sciences, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton who have signed contracts for the first time.
Organizing agencies in Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Timor-Leste and other countries will organize their own enterprises to participate in the expo. Participants including Bank of China, 3M, China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co, and China VAST Industrial Urban Development Company have renewed their diamond membership of the Hongqiao Forum.
Zhejiang, Shaanxi and Shandong provinces will participate in the cultural exchange activities at the fifth CIIE, and Zhejiang Yuanda International Convention and Exhibition Co will become an organizing agency for the business exhibition of the CIIE, according to the organizer.
The briefing was hosted by the CIIE Bureau and the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai).
Representatives of foreign embassies and consulates in China; exhibitors; organizing agencies; members of the Hongqiao Forum; trade missions; participants of people-to-people exchanges; and partners attended and spoke at the meeting.
