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China International Import Expo
BusinessChina Business

President Xi pledges to further open China’s markets, offering ‘big opportunities’ to the world ahead of trade fare

  • As many as 3,000 foreign companies will display their latest products at the China International Import Expo, say organisers
  • China’s tough travel curbs are stopping some international executives from attending, according to exhibitors

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Installations near an entrance to the China International Import Expo (CIIE), in Shanghai. Photo: Xinhua
Daniel Renin Shanghai,Tracy Quin ShanghaiandYaling Jiangin Shanghai
China’s president has pledged to open the country’s markets further as he reaffirmed his commitment to globalisation ahead of the world’s largest import trade fair, in Shanghai.
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“We have been offering big opportunities for the world economy by opening up China’s huge market,” Xi said in a televised speech to kick off the fifth edition of the China International Import Expo (CIIE), the government’s tentpole annual event for promoting a consumption-led economic development model.

“The opening [of markets] will brighten the future of economic development globally.”

Xi’s speech, his first at an international event since he secured an unprecedented third term as leader of the world’s second-largest economy, underscored his government’s commitment to global trade amid a slowing domestic economy battered by strict Covid-19 virus controls and tensions with the US.

As many as 3,000 foreign companies will display their latest products and technologies at the 2022 CIIE, up 3.4 per cent from last year, according to organisers. About 90 per cent of the 2,900 exhibitors from last year will return to the show at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai’s southwestern Qingpu district from November 5 to 10.
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“The CIIE is not just a trade fair held to facilitate deal-making. More importantly, it is playing a role in [helping China] create a new global economic order,” said Zhang Xiaodi, an associate researcher at the Institute of Economics at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. “At this critical moment, the world economy is in bad need of concerted efforts to achieve sustainability and stability.”
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