China will always be important opportunity for global development

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a letter to the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) on Nov. 5. He said that China will always be an important opportunity for global development, firmly advance high-standard opening up and continue to make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all.

The CIIE once again demonstrated to the international community China's sincere aspiration to share its market opportunities with the rest of the world, a firm determination to advance high-level opening up, and proactive actions to build an open world economy.

Photo taken on Nov. 4, 2023 shows the south square of the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the main venue for the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE), in east China's Shanghai. (People's Daily Online/Weng Qiyu)

The CIIE is the world's first import-themed national-level expo. It aims to promote open cooperation and win-win results among all parties.

Since its debut in 2018, the CIIE has been successfully held for five sessions. It has leveraged the strengths of China's enormous market, fulfilled its platform function for international procurement, investment promotion, people-to-people exchanges and open cooperation, and made positive contributions to creating a new development pattern and promoting world economic development.

Foreign exhibitors to the event, recognizing the increasing significance of the CIIE, said they looked forward to further deepening mutually beneficial cooperation with the Chinese market and would continuously expand their investment in China.

The CIIE serves as a window for fostering a new development pattern that creates new opportunities for the world through China's further development.

The China Pavilion at this year's CIIE has a record-breaking area of 2,500 square meters. With the theme of "Chinese Modernization, World's New Opportunities," an exhibition was staged to display the achievements of China's pilot free trade zones over the past decade, showcasing the latest progress of China's high-level opening up and high-quality development.

These efforts demonstrate that the new development pattern China is building is not a closed domestic cycle but a more open domestic and international dual cycle. It not only meets China's own development needs, but also benefits people from all countries.

A robotic arm is exhibited at the Intelligent Industry and Information Technology exhibition area of the sixth China International Import Expo, Nov. 4, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Weng Qiyu)

China vowed that it would introduce the foreign investment regulations at a faster pace, improve the open and transparent foreign-related legal system, and implement the "pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list" management system for foreign investment across the board.

It promised to continue to encourage bold trials and experiments in pilot free trade zones and quicken the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port as pacesetters of opening up in China.

Besides, the country also said it would upgrade trade in goods, develop new mechanisms for trade in services, import more quality products, and establish pilot zones for Silk Road e-commerce cooperation.

China continues to release the dividends of openness and cooperation through the CIIE, vividly illustrating the expo's theme - "New Era, Shared Future."

The CIIE is a platform that promotes high-level opening up and shares China's enormous market with the world. Hosting the CIIE is a significant decision for China to advance a new round of high-level opening up and a major initiative for China to proactively open its market to the world.

This year's CIIE continued to draw eager participation from "old friends" and "new friends" alike. Around 200 companies have signed up to exhibit for the sixth consecutive year. Meanwhile, 11 countries joined the Country Exhibition for the first time, and 34 made their offline debut.

Over 3,400 exhibitors and nearly 410,000 professional visitors attended the CIIE, and the number of Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders participating in the event reached a new high in history.

The continuous improvement in the quality and level of the CIIE fully demonstrates that China, with its expanding openness, boasts strong appeal.

People visit the Medical Equipment and Healthcare Products exhibition area of the sixth China International Import Expo, Nov. 5, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Wang Chu)

Time-honored stores, pioneering startups, globally renowned companies, and even small and medium-sized enterprises from the least developed countries are all leveraging the platform of the CIIE to enter the Chinese market and share the opportunities. "Confidence in the Chinese market" has become a shared perception among foreign enterprises attending the CIIE.

The CIIE provides shared international public goods and services that facilitate an open world economy and let the world benefit from win-win cooperation.

Currently, the world economic recovery lacks momentum and requires the solidarity and cooperation of all countries. The CIIE is a platform for trading goods and services, as well as exchanging cultures and ideas. It carries a distinctive feature of openness and continuously contributes to the development of an open world economy through both conceptual and practical support.

By facilitating cultural and idea exchanges, the CIIE fosters consensus on open cooperation. Through the trading of goods and services, the CIIE injects momentum into global economic development through open cooperation.

At this year's CIIE, over 400 representative new products, technologies, and services made their debut. The Hongqiao International Economic Forum, themed "Joining Hands in Development, Opening Up for the Future," featured 22 sub-forums covering hot topics such as green development, digital economy, and intelligent technology. These discussions aimed to foster broad consensus on promoting economic globalization, revitalizing the global economy, and enhancing the resilience of world economic development.

The enthusiastic participation in the CIIE fully demonstrated that open cooperation is the trend of the times, while mutual benefit remains a shared goal of all countries. China will stay committed to pursuing high-level opening up with a broader vision, a more open mind and a more proactive attitude. It will join hands with partners worldwide to create an even more prosperous future.