7th CIIE garners global spotlight, showing China's attractiveness

The 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE) is under the global spotlight as foreign leaders, and industry representatives will gather in Shanghai for the major trade event which is scheduled to take place from Tuesday to Sunday.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend the opening ceremony of the 7th CIIE and relevant events, and deliver a speech, Ministry of Commerce spokesperson He Yadong announced on Sunday.

At the invitation of Premier Li, foreign leaders including Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene and Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic will attend the opening ceremony of this year's CIIE and relevant events, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced Sunday.

Themed "new era, shared future," the 7th CIIE has attracted participants from 152 countries, regions, and international organizations, and achieved a new record with 297 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders set to attend, Tang Wenhong, assistant minister of commerce, told a press conference, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

As an important part of the CIIE, the Hongqiao International Economic Forum will include a main forum and 19 sub-forums.

The CIIE serves to showcase China's major opening-up measures and confidence, to share China's new development opportunities with other countries, and to help improve global economic governance rules and promote the building of an open world economy, Tang said.

Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Sunday that as an important platform for importing goods from overseas, this year's CIIE has maintained its substantial scale and increased its attractiveness to the world, reflecting both the ongoing optimization of China's domestic economic structure and the significance of the country's market for global businesses.

Active participation

As preparation for the grand import expo enters its final stage, participating countries and businesses have demonstrated great enthusiasm about the event by showcasing high-quality products to seize the booming market opportunities of the world's second-largest economy, the Global Times learned from officials and business representatives on Sunday.

In an exclusive written interview with the Global Times on Sunday, Djauhari Oratmangun, Indonesian Ambassador to China, said that Indonesia will participate in this year's CIIE with two pavilions - the country pavilion and the product pavilion.

For the product pavilion, 15 Indonesian companies will showcase their best consumer products such as coffee, swallow's nests, spices, snacks, confectionery, and fruit, he noted.

In the country pavilion, Indonesia will showcase opportunities of cooperation, such as in tourism, renewable energy, fintech, bio technology, and downstream industry, said the ambassador, noting that some Indonesian companies participating as exhibitors this year include Astra, a leading palm oil company, Mayora, a multinational food and beverage company, and Merdeka, a metal and mineral mining holding company.

"We hope that the CIIE will help boost the trade between Indonesia and China, for Indonesia's best products to access the Chinese market and to achieve a new height this year," said Oratmangun.

Oratmangun's comments epitomize the importance that foreign countries attach to this expo.

France, participating as a "guest of honor" in this year's CIIE, is "showcasing France's exceptional products and the commitment of French companies to the Chinese market," according to a press release the Embassy of France in China sent to the Global Times on Sunday.

This year's CIIE is particularly significant to China and France, as 2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and it is also the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism. This "guest of honor" status highlights the thriving business cooperation between China and France in a special way, the embassy said.

Nineteen French companies will participate, spanning sectors including food, wine and spirits, and luxury goods, according to the embassy, which noted that "all these companies have a long-standing presence in the Chinese market."

Sustainable development is one of the important themes of the CIIE this year. For the first time, the CIIE will host events themed around "sustainable development driven by new quality productive forces," to explore pathways for businesses to achieve green and sustainable development.

In conjunction with the expo, Kari Hakala, executive director of FinnCham China Shanghai, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Sunday that this year, the Finnish Pavilion, located in Hall 5.2, will bring together 18 companies from sectors that matter to the future of business, including energy, advanced materials and the circular economy, among others.

Both the Chinese and Finnish economies complement each other in a lot of areas, which opens up some great opportunities for growth, Hakala said, noting that "China has long been one of Finland's top trade partners in Asia, giving Finnish companies a strong foothold to expand in this dynamic market, especially as the demand for innovative, sustainable products continues to rise."

"Since the beginning, the CIIE has been one of the most important events of the year to deepen trade connections and open new pathways for growth... In my opinion, being part of the CIIE is a good opportunity for Finland to strengthen trade ties with China and to showcase some of our most forward-thinking companies," Hakala said.

During the expo, Finland's Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio is expected to be present at the pavilion, according to the Finnish government, which Hakala said "further underscores the importance of this event."

According to China's General Administration of Customs, in the first three quarters of 2024, China's imports and exports reached 32.33 trillion yuan ($4.54 trillion). Among this, imports totaled 13.71 trillion yuan, representing a growth of 4.1 percent - a record high.

Chinese consumers have a strong demand for innovative and quality products that offer higher performance and cost-effectiveness, creating significant opportunities for companies worldwide, Zhou said, noting that as the nation pursues high-quality development and further opening-up, the potential for foreign businesses will only grow bigger.