Preparations in full swing for CIIE VII

The preparatory work for the upcoming 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE) is in full swing in Shanghai, as the host is committed to providing guests from across the world with comfortable transportation, catering and even customized financial services.

Thousands of taxi cars in Shanghai have been equipped with wheelchairs and POS machines allowing overseas visitors to pay directly with their foreign bank cards.

The improvements are part of the city's efforts to facilitate visitors to this year's CIIE, which will last for six days starting from Nov 5.

"We have made a team of 3,000 taxis to serve the CIIE. We are also capable of arranging 4,500 taxi rides a day. We estimate that over the six days of this year's CIIE, our taxis will carry out 21,000 trips for the visitors," said Ye Feng, office worker of the taxi division of Shanghai Road Transport Administration.

As the expo will see a large amount of visitors from 152 countries, regions and international organizations, the public transportation system in Shanghai has also been gearing up its efforts, with 10 bus routes added to facilitate visitors' travels from nearby subway stations and around the venue.

A total of 203 buses have been put into use and with valid certificates, CIIE visitors can take the buses for free.

The first batch of food safety monitors were also sent by the municipal market supervision bureau to Shanghai's National Exhibition and Convention Center, the venue of this year's CIIE, to start their 20-day work.

As the expo is set to gather business operators from across the world, the banks and the financial institutes in China have also been taking the opportunity to promote their customized services.

The Export-Import Bank of China on Friday released a financial service plan along with the organizer of CIIE, aiming at providing the guiding advices to business operators by focusing on the green transition and technological innovation.

"The Export-Import Bank of China will release related research reports to provide enterprises with guiding consultation on a comprehensive understanding of challenges and opportunities in global industrial distribution, exploring key issues like green transition and technological innovation, so as to contribute more wisdom and strength to better serving our clients and global economic recovery and growth," said Yang Dongning, deputy director of the Export-Import Bank of China.

China's one-year loan prime rate (LPR), a market-based benchmark lending rate, came in at 3 percent on Wednesday, the same as the previous month.

The over-five-year LPR, on which many lenders base their mortgage rates, also remained unchanged from the previous reading of 3.5 percent, according to the National Interbank Funding Center.

LPRs reflect the level of financing costs for households and businesses. Lower rates will ease borrowing burdens and boost investment and consumption.

Interest rates on newly issued loans in China have remained relatively low. Data showed that in April 2026, the weighted average interest rate for new corporate loans was around 3.1 percent, about 20 basis points lower than a year earlier, while that for new personal housing loans was 3.1 percent, 6 basis points lower than the same period of 2025.

China will continue to implement a more proactive fiscal policy and adopt an appropriately accommodative monetary policy in 2026, this year's government work report noted.