THE opening ceremony of the eighth China International Import Expo (CIIE), being held from 5 to 10 November, took place at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre (NECC) in Shanghai, China, yesterday.
This year, CIIE features 10 world’s top industrial electrical companies, including four major grain traders. The event CIIE will include one main forum, 33 subforums and the eighth Hongqiao International Economic Forum.
This year’s event features 4,100 overseas exhibitors from 155 countries, regions and international organizations, with the total exhibition area of 430,000 square metres, setting a new record in scale.
During the opening ceremony, Chinese Premier Li Qiang added that new opportunities had been further created and cooperation in global trade will be enhanced.
The booths of Bayer, Siemens and Nestle, which are top in robotic technology, AI, renewable energy, new medicines, household commodities and cosmetics, can be seen at the event, and the number of booths from African regions increased by 80 per cent compared with the previous year. Moreover, there were also booths of Myanmar showcasing handicrafts, foodstuffs such as coffee and honey, and agricultural produce.
The booths featured the galleries of relevant countries, medicine and medical supplies, automobiles and high-tech vehicles, food and agricultural products, and import and export products of different countries. The event debuted 461 new products, technologies, and services, highlighting frontier industries such as the low-altitude economy and humanoid robotics.
This year’s expo is the first important economic event that China hosts after the fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. According to the data released on 1 October, the Shanghai Customs supervised a total of 4,000 batches of imported CIIE exhibits, with a value of over eight billion yuan. The expo is scheduled to run until 10 November. — Khin Yadana/KTZH
