CIIE role expands to global growth stimulus

Reservation office for the sixth CIIE seen during the fifth CIIE in Shanghai last year. [Photo provided to China Daily]

With China expanding many programs to strengthen its opening-up policy as well as global economic recovery, the sixth China International Import Expo, which will be held in Shanghai in November, is expected to continue to help multinational corporations gain more access to the vast Chinese market and bolster global openness and cooperation.

That's not all. Going by the experience and outcomes of the first five editions of the CIIE, the expo has acquired added significance this year as many believe the event can sharpen the edge of China's dual-circulation paradigm, a new pattern of development that focuses on the domestic economy but also stresses a positive interplay between domestic and international economic flows.

The sixth CIIE, business leaders said, will not only continue to turn foreign companies' exhibits into popular products in China but inject more growth momentum and confidence into the world economy.

That is especially important because the global economy has been facing headwinds over the past three years due to pandemic-fueled disruptions to both supply and demand.

China's optimized COVID-19 response and opening-up measures will definitely inject vitality and motivation into not only the Chinese economy but the global economy. They will also create an MNC-friendly business environment, said Mike Hwang, president for China unit of Amorepacific Corp, the South Korean cosmetics company.

"The sixth CIIE will write a new chapter of openness and cooperation. It will reinforce China's firm determination to support trade liberalization and economic globalization," said Hwang, adding that the company will display more products at the expo this year to meet the growing beauty needs of Chinese consumers.

Echoing that sentiment, Anu Rathninde, president for the Asia-Pacific region at Johnson Controls, a US-based smart building solutions provider and a five-time CIIE participant, said the expo has provided the company with plenty of opportunities to interact with both Chinese companies and customers. "We are impressed by the CIIE as a customized platform to connect advanced technologies, experience and innovation around the world with local market demands."

By early February, more than 500 companies had signed up for the sixth CIIE. Over 200,000 square meters of exhibition area have been booked already, said the CIIE Bureau, the event's organizer.

The expo will be held fully offline this November. It will open to the public on a limited basis, the CIIE Bureau said.

Yu Lili, head of corporate communications at Shiseido China, a country branch of Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido Group, said: "Our largest market, China is now also virtually the group's second global headquarters. Therefore, the CIIE will remain a hugely important platform for us. We will continue to increase our investment in China and bring new products to consumers here."

Shanghai, home to the CIIE, has added significance for Dun & Bradstreet Corp, a US-based commercial data and analytics firm, which set up its China headquarters in the city two years ago. Wu Guangyu, the local managing director for the firm, said the spillover effect of the CIIE has turned the firm's exhibits into successful commodities. "The new products we had launched at the CIIE have now become benchmarks that are generating cash flows for us in China."

Attracted by China's opening-up policies, complete industrial chain and massive consumer base, foreign direct investment in the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 14.5 percent year-on-year to 127.69 billion yuan ($18.58 billion) in January, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.