On November 5, the 9th China International Import Expo opened in Shanghai as scheduled. Against the backdrop of the century-old changes in the world that are accelerating and the international situation is intertwined with chaos, this grand event is not only a vivid epitome of China's continued expansion of high-level opening-up, but also provides precious certainty in a world of turbulence and change.
After nine years of hard work, the "circle of friends" of the CIIE has become larger and larger, and the background of openness has become increasingly clear. A total of 162 countries, regions and international organizations participated in this CIIE, and 4,142 overseas companies participated in the exhibition. The overall exhibition area exceeded 440,000 square meters for the first time, and the scale reached a new high. More than 2,000 companies attended the appointment for the first time, covering manufacturing, consumption, services and other fields, looking for opportunities in the Chinese market with their respective advantageous products. In addition, nearly 200 companies have held "full attendance" for nine years and continue to implement cooperation with China.
The gathering of new and old friends in Shanghai to seek business opportunities reflects the global recognition of China's openness and cooperation and its active and deep exploration of the Chinese market.
The “15th Five-Year Plan” outline proposes “actively promoting the first-tier economy.” The CIIE is the key carrier to support the vigorous development of the first-tier economy. This year, there are more than 480 representative exhibits premiering in the world, Asia for the first time, and China for the first time, setting a new high in history. Cutting-edge achievements such as split endoscopic surgical robots, 360-degree sound-sensing cochlear implants, and 6G terminal prototypes were unveiled. The technology and equipment exhibition area fully covered the entire semiconductor industry chain, and achievements in artificial intelligence, new-generation mobile communications and other fields were intensively released. At the same time, the "6 days + 365 days" year-round exhibition and sales mechanism continues to improve, and measures to facilitate the inspection of first-time imported consumer goods have taken effect, and the customs clearance time has been shortened from a minimum of 7 days to the fastest release on the same day, promoting the accelerated transformation of exhibits into commodities, the accelerated growth of exhibitors into investors, and the deep integration of global innovation achievements with China's ultra-large-scale market.
The value of the CIIE has long gone beyond commodity trading. While opening up a very large market to the world, it has also become an important platform for the world to gather cooperation wisdom and build consensus on development. This Hongqiao Forum will release the "Exporting China Capability Development Report" for the first time and will continue to release the "World Openness Report". The two reports, one focusing on China and focusing on win-win cooperation, and the other focusing on the world and focusing on common opening, provide intellectual support for all parties to share market opportunities and jointly promote open cooperation. From precise trade docking to innovation incubation roadshows, from industrial collaborative dialogue to in-depth linkage between exhibitions and cities, the CIIE has established a diversified docking mechanism to promote efficient matching of supply and demand and drive cooperation from single-goods trade to in-depth integration of industries and integration of development concepts.
As an international public good shared by the world, the CIIE has always adhered to the value pursuit of inclusiveness. Starting from May 1 this year, China has implemented zero tariffs on all 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with China. This year’s CIIE has further upgraded the Asia-Africa product area, with the area of free booths for the least developed countries increasing by 17%, tax incentives for the purchase of supporting exhibits and other support measures, and continues to expand the coverage of sharing development results. The participation of countries in the global South continues to be vigorous, and many small and medium-sized enterprises have used the CIIE to open up the Chinese market and integrate into the global supply chain, vividly explaining the win-win approach of "those who benefit from the world, the world will support".
The ninth CIIE has continuously refreshed the scale and innovation level of the exhibition. What remains unchanged is China’s original intention to expand high-level opening up and its sincerity to share development opportunities. China will continue to open up and advance without end. China will work with other countries to create opportunities in opening up, solve problems in cooperation, and inject more positive energy into building an open world economy. (Source of this article: Economic Daily Author: Jin Guanping)
