Final preparations underway for second CIIE in Shanghai

Companies and institutions have sped up their final preparations for the second China International Import Expo, which serves as a gateway for China to meet the outside world and vice versa.

The first meeting of CIIE's executive committee was held in Shanghai on Tuesday.

Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong said that preparations for the show, which will be held from Nov 5 to 10, has entered the final stage. The CIIE will help to strengthen China's multilateral relations with other countries and regions by stabilizing their market expectations, he said.

Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan said at a news conference on Sept 29 that the CIIE is one of China's important moves to further open up to the outside world. Given the large number of companies signing up for this year's show, the exhibition area has been expanded to 360,000 square meters, from the 300,000 square meters seen in last year's program.

Up to 250 Fortune 500 companies have confirmed their participation in the second CIIE. A CIIE release platform will be introduced for the first time at this year's show through which the Chinese government will announce its latest policies and international organizations will be able to publicize their research results.

The first batch of entrance admission certificates to the CIIE was delivered on Sept 27. The first exhibits for the show were shipped from northwestern Italy's Genoa Port on Sept 2, according to the CIIE bureau.

A delegation of over 300 senior business representatives from 84 Singaporean enterprises will take part in the second CIIE, the Singapore Business Federation said in a news conference on Wednesday.

Major industrial names such as DBS Bank, Pacific International Lines and Singapore Airlines will all be present at the show. The exhibition area for Singapore's participants this year will cover a total of 1,600 square meters, up 12 percent from the level in the first show.

The fruitful results reached at the show last year, including the 15 Memorandum of Understanding reached and valued at SG$152 million ($110 million), helped to buoy Singaporean companies' interest in the CIIE, said SBF chairman Siong Seng Teo.

More importantly though, the Singapore companies are convinced by China's resolve to further open up its economy. The Foreign Investment Law, which will take effect at the beginning of 2020, is one of the best examples, he said, as "it has delivered positive messages to companies all over the world."

The law is also one of the major efforts of the Chinese government to further improve its business environment, said Teo.

At a time of increasing complexity in the global market and rising trade protectionism, the Chinese government's new round of opening-up, a large part of which focuses on the development of the real economy, will translate into increasing confidence by multinational companies trying to make their way into the Chinese market, he said.

"Singaporean companies are encouraged to witness and experience Chinese companies' agility and their thirst for the market. Occasions such as CIIE are ideal chances to form a two-way channel and both Chinese and Singaporean companies can learn from each other," he added.