Most booths have been set up and the exhibit installation is underway at the main venue of the upcoming sixth China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) as of Saturday, which will be held in south China's Hainan Province from April 13 to 18.
In the coming days, exhibitors will fine-tune their displays in anticipation of consumers and buyers.
According to organizers, this year's expo will cover 143,000 square meters of exhibition space, an increase of 13,000 square meters from the previous edition. It will feature eight exhibition halls, with the Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Center in Haikou City serving as the main venue. Additional sub-venues for international yachts and international healthcare will be set up in the cities of Sanya and Boao, respectively.
More than 3,400 brands from over 60 countries and regions across the world have registered to participate. A series of promotional activities themed "Shopping in China" will also be held during the expo.
"For now, the internationalization rate of our exhibits has increased by 20 percent compared to last year, with international brands accounting for about 65 percent and domestic brands around 35 percent. Many domestic brands are also expanding their products overseas," said Liu Peng, assistant director of the Hainan Provincial International Economic Development Bureau.
Jointly hosted by China's Ministry of Commerce and the Hainan provincial government, the sixth expo marks the first edition of the event since the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) fully launched island-wide special customs operations in December last year.
Most Booths set up, exhibit installation underway days ahead of 6th CICPE
Romano Prodi, former prime minister of Italy and former president of the European Commission, has warned against the resurgence of a Cold War mentality in an exclusive interview with the China Central Television that aired on Friday, emphasizing that global peace and cooperation depend on the ability of nations to accept their differences and engage in meaningful dialogue.
Reflecting on the shifting global landscape, Prodi said that political issues have become increasingly entangled with economic, human rights, and trade concerns.
He warned that this "mixture of tension" is often used as a pretext to further escalate conflicts rather than resolve them.
"I have insisted my life to a decrease of tension step by step. You know, with, as I told you, the political problem which are mixing with problems of economy, of human rights, of regulation, of trade, and now we have a mixture of tension, in which everything is taken as an excuse to increase that. My political idea is that, you have to talk with everybody. From this point of view, it's a Western mistake that to have, let's say, agreement, you need to have the same political system. This is completely wrong," he said. Prodi challenged the prevailing Western notion that international agreements require identical political systems, arguing that such a mindset ignores the unique historical trajectories of different nations. He stressed that countries must move beyond mere respect to a deeper level of understanding and acceptance of their inherent differences.
"We understand that we were born different. You know, but we have to live as different. And this is the idea that because you are different, I fight against you. And this is everywhere in the world. It's an heritage of the Cold War.We are going back to the old Cold War. If you go on in this situation, we cannot have any type of relaxing our tension," he said.
To break the current deadlock in international cooperation, Prodi called for initiatives in specific fields to restart engagement.
"Somebody must take some initiative in some specific field, you know, in order to start back to cooperate. When people talk, the agreement, or the compromise, is easy to reach. When we are so divided as we are now, it's impossible, because the enemy is the enemy. When you have a dialogue and you have a compromise, we understand that you can live together," said the Italian politician.
Former Italian PM calls for dialogue, acceptance of differences in global cooperation
Former Italian PM calls for dialogue, acceptance of differences in global cooperation
