At the CIIE, feel the sincerity, perseverance and warmth of opening up China

It’s the “Expo Season” again. This year, the number of overseas exhibiting companies has reached a new high, the number of participating countries, regions and international organizations has reached a new high, and the number of global premieres, Asian first exhibitions and Chinese first shows has reached a new high. The value of the CIIE is still rising.

Why come to the CIIE? There are a thousand reasons to "blog". Walking through the four-leaf clover-shaped National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai), and communicating with exhibitors from all over the world, the "three hearts" gradually became clear in the reporter's mind.

Let’s talk about sincerity first.

There are thousands of exhibitions around the world, but the CIIE is the first national-level exhibition with the theme of import. Hosting the CIIE is a major decision China has made to promote a new round of high-level opening up, and it is a major initiative for China to open its market to the world.

Orders are the most intuitive manifestation of openness and sincerity. The cumulative intended transaction volume of the past eight CIIEs has exceeded US$580 billion. Behind every handshake and order after deal is the "rich neighbor effect" that China continues to bring to all parties with its open market.

The CIIE is a vivid footnote to China’s initiative to expand imports. In fact, in terms of import scale, China has ranked second in the world for 17 consecutive years, exceeding 18 trillion yuan in 2025. In the first three quarters of this year, it increased by 22.3% year-on-year, nearly 6 percentage points faster than the export growth rate.

On the opening day of this CIIE, the "Export China Capability Development Report" released for the first time was particularly eye-catching. The report focuses on how "the advantages of each country" can be better aligned with "China's needs" and provides suggestions on practical issues such as "what to export to China, where are the shortcomings in capabilities, and how to improve export capabilities." It can be said that this is an accurate guide to sharing China market opportunities and is full of sincerity.

Let’s talk about perseverance.

Hosting the CIIE is not a one-time deal. Over the years, China has been fulfilling its solemn commitment to the world - "The China International Import Expo must not only be held every year, but also be held at a high level, with results, and better and better."

After participating in the CIIE for many years, reporters have realized that the CIIE is getting better and better, with larger scale, more specialized themes, and more sophisticated activities.

Taking event organization as an example, this CIIE has jointly organized the "Export to China", "Invest in China" and "Buy in China" activities to help coordinate trade, investment, and consumption. A series of trade docking, country cooperation, and roadshow negotiations are being carried out in an orderly manner. The number of activity areas for business negotiation has increased to 19, and the area is three times that of the previous session.

Tan Sen, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, believes that the purpose of companies coming to the CIIE now is not just the market, but "market +". Foreign companies can find suitable Chinese partners at the CIIE to jointly develop and innovate, moving from "in China, for China" to "in China, for the world."

This sentiment is shared by many CIIE friends. One session after another, many exhibitors have grown from "first-time visitors" to "repeat visitors" to "resident visitors" and "investors", growing together with the CIIE.

Finally, it’s heartwarming.

Chinese people have always emphasized that "if you want to establish yourself, you can help others; if you want to help yourself, you can help others." By hosting the CIIE, China welcomes not only the "big guys" from the Fortune 500, but also the "small but beautiful" companies from all over the world, without setting any thresholds or engaging in exclusion.

In particular, for the least developed countries, the CIIE always provides free booths, and the relevant booth area increased by 17% this year. Since May this year, China has fully implemented zero tariffs on 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with China, bringing more benefits to African partners.

During several days of interviews, reporters kept hearing one sentence from exhibitors from Mozambique, Gabon, Somalia, Yemen and other countries and regions - "China is our truly trustworthy friend."

The nine-year event has brought forth something new every year and moved forward step by step. On the new journey, the CIIE will continue to bring the dividends of opening up to enterprises and ordinary people in various countries, and play the chapter of the era of win-win cooperation. (Reporter Liu Hongxia)