Sharing China’s opportunities with the world

Shi Mingde, Ambassador of P.R. China to Germany, invites to the new Import Expo in Shanghai

We sincerely invite and welcome companies from all over the world to actively participate in the China International Import Expo and to strengthen cooperations – Shi Mingde

This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s Reform and Opening-Up. In the past 40 years, China has witnessed earth-shaking changes, with the ratio of its gross domestic product to the world’s total economy increasing from 1.8% to 15%, becoming the world’s second-largest economy and contributing 30% to the world’s economic growth. The per capita GDP increased from US$156 to more than US$9000 and more than 700 million people were lifted out of poverty.

China’s economy must be continuously innovated

One of the secrets of China’s rapid economic development is opening up to the outside world. At present, the Chinese economy has entered a new stage of development, moving from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage. In this process, China’s development is facing new challenges and the economy must be continuously innovated and reformed to keep up with the pace of the new era. In order to achieve this, China will continue to intensify reform and opening up and launch a series of opening measures.

One of them is to hold the China International Import Expo. In May 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that China will host the China International Import Expo from 2018 onwards. The first China International Import Expo will be held in Shanghai from November 5th to 10th, 2018

A decision to advance to a high level of opening up

After the global financial crisis, economic globalization has experienced twists and turns, the multilateral trading system has been challenged and protectionism has risen. Against such a backdrop, China’s holding of such an expo is of far-reaching significance. It is a major decision made by China to advance a high level of opening-up, and it is a practical action to support economic globalization and trade liberalization, reflecting the determination and confidence of China in the new era to open up to the outside world.

As a developing country, we hold an import-themed exhibition, which is rare in the world. It not only provides new opportunities for all countries in the world to expand exports to China, but also sets up a platform for developing international trade and sharing cooperation opportunities among the countries. It expresses China’s sincere willingness to open up its markets to the world and demonstrates China’s sense of responsibility as a global actor in actively promoting economic globalization.

In the next five years, China will import more than $10 trillion in goods and services

China welcomes the world to board the “express train” of China’s economic development and welcomes advantageous, distinctive and competitive commodity services to enter its large market of 1.3 billion people. In the next five years, China will import more than $10 trillion in goods and services. We hope that by hosting the China International Import Expo, we will continue to increase the level of trade liberalization and facilitation, jointly expand the “cake” of global trade and make full use of international trade as the growth engine of the world economy, contributing in building a more vital, more inclusive and more sustainable economic globalization.

China International Import Expo: an international public good provided for the world

What I would like to emphasize is that the China International Import Expo is not an ordinary exhibition – it is not only an open international cooperation platform built up by China for countries around the world to show their achievements of national development and to engage in international trade. It is also an international public good provided by China for the world to explore major issues in international trade and the world economy as well as to improve global economic governance.

The first China International Import Expo will set up the National Trade and Investment Comprehensive Exhibition and the Corporate Commercial Exhibition. The National Trade and Investment Comprehensive Exhibition will focus on displaying, without business transactions, relevant circumstances of various countries in the areas of trade and investment, including trade in goods and services, industrial state of affairs, and investment tourism.

The first China International Import Expo will set up the National Trade and Investment Comprehensive Exhibition and the Corporate Commercial Exhibition

The Corporate Commercial Exhibition is divided into two sections: goods trade and service trade. The goods trade consists of six exhibition areas: smart and high-end equipments, consumer electronics and home appliances, clothing and daily-use consumer goods, automobiles, food and agricultural products as well as medical devices, medicines and health products, with each exhibition area covering 30,000 square meters and the total area of 180,000 square meters. The service trade section, covering an area of 30,000 square meters, is divided into emerging technology, service outsourcing, innovative design, culture and education, and tourism services.

Parallel to the first China International Import Expo, we will also hold the Hongqiao International Trade Forum to discuss new trends in the development of international trade and to provide suggestions for advancing economic globalization and constructing an open world economy. Speakers include Heads of State and Government, directors of international organizations, world-renowned entrepreneurs, and distinguished experts and academic scholars. They will conduct interactive exchanges on the topic “vitalizing a new vigor of global trade, creating a new pattern of openness and win-win”, contributing wisdom and strength for the world, especially developing countries, to participate in economic globalization and to improve global economic governance.

Since China announced to hold the China International Import Expo, it has received enthusiastic responses from countries across the world. At present, more than 60 countries have registered to participate in the National Trade and Investment Comprehensive Exhibition and enterprises from more than 120 countries and regions have registered to participate in the Corporate Commercial Exhibition. We estimate that 150,000 visitors from China and other countries will visit the expo. Here, we sincerely invite and welcome companies from all over the world to actively participate in the expo, to work together to make the China International Import Expo a world-class exhibition, to open up new channels for all countries to develop trade and to strengthen cooperation, promoting the joint growth of global trade and the world economy, achieving mutually beneficial development as well as common prosperity.

Shi Mingde is the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Berlin since 2012. He spoke on occasion of the Hannover Messe 2018 in the GLOBAL BUSINESS MAGAZINE, introducing the

China International Import Expo
Shanghai, 5th to the 10th of November 2018

More information about the China International Import Expo here

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