Several foreign participants at the 8th China International Import Expo (CIIE), which opened in Shanghai on Wednesday, have hailed the event as an important platform for overseas businesses to deepen cooperation with their Chinese partners.
This year's CIIE, running until November 10, features the largest exhibition space in its history and brings together a record 4,108 enterprises from 138 countries and regions across the world.
The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) is leading a delegation of more than 500 representatives from 57 companies to participate in the expo.
Soo Wei-Chieh, executive director of international business at the SBF, said he has seen an increasing number of Singaporean companies interested in the Chinese market.
"We have been consistent in our participation and increasingly, we do see that the trade in services has been a feature. And this year, we do see that continuing interest with that number of companies coming in. And this year, actually, we do find interest picking up and gradually increasing over the years, where we have a good number of companies. And I think, how we see this is really that sustained interest that we are looking at between Singapore and China," Soo said.
Rainer Kern, chief financial officer of German company Karcher China, said the expo has indeed helped his company establish partnership and promote its brand in China.
"We see more and more people coming to the CIIE, entering all the new fields. Now, we are able to do livestreaming directly from our booth, so the key opinion leaders can directly showcase our latest products to their audience. Also, we have signed new cooperation agreements, and we could really realize sales on the CIIE and successfully promote our brand," Kern said.
Henning Kristoffersen, commercial counselor of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, called the expo a vital gateway for foreign companies to tap new partnership opportunities with China, saying such an expo has become increasingly valuable amid rising protectionism in the world.
"In today's world, unfortunately, protectionism is a trend, right? So, we need platforms like CIIE for the opening of the economy, the opening of the markets. So, I think this type of expos and events are more and more important every year," Kristoffersen said.
Held annually in Shanghai since 2018, the CIIE is the world's first import-themed national-level exhibition. The previous seven editions of the expo have cumulatively attracted 23,000 overseas exhibitors.
Foreign participants commend CIIE as important platform to deepen cooperation
