Editor's Note: The fifth China International Import Expo will open in less than 20 days. In October, several participants of the CIIE will tell their stories themed around "great opportunity" to showcase the positive changes the expo has made to the world and how it has helped build a community with a shared future for mankind over the past five years.

Zhou Hanmin visits the CIIE. [Photo/CIIE Bureau]

The fifth CIIE, which will take place from Nov 5 to 10, will be a new contribution by China to globalization amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and different kinds of global uncertainties.

The expo comprises multiple events, including the country exhibition, the business exhibition, and the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, and involves trade of technologies, goods and services. This represents China's efforts to counter protectionism, deal with global economic challenges, and improve its people's livelihood. The expo is aimed at promoting trade liberalization, investment facilitation, and wider opening-up.

I attended the past four editions of the CIIE and found it has been improving. The exhibition area was always expanding and a great many Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders were in attendance.

I visited several exhibitors last year, including Burberry, Richemont, and Panasonic from the consumer goods exhibition area, Hyundai, General Motors, and Michelin from the automobile exhibition area, as well as Siemens Energy, Schneider, and Honeywell from the intelligent industry and information technology exhibition area. Almost all foreign investors I met told me that the expo offered them a great platform to understand, enter and grow in the Chinese market. Some exhibitors even saw their business double from the first time they participated in the CIIE.

The CIIE has also helped participants realize the gap between them and the world's highest standards, learn about the development trends in some sectors, and find cooperation opportunities.

During the first four editions of the expo, more than 1,500 new products, technologies and services were launched, and $270 billion worth of tentative deals were clinched.

I also visited a Shanghai food pavilion built by member companies of the China National Democratic Construction Association during the fourth CIIE. The pavilion showed an open, innovative and inclusive Shanghai to people from across the world.

Despite the pandemic and weakening global trade and investment, the CIIE has been held for four consecutive years successfully. The Hongqiao forum invites government officials, industry experts, and scholars from home and abroad every year to talk about crucial economic issues. This sends a strong signal that globalization is an increasing trend and bolsters our confidence in the world economy.

I hope the CIIE can play a more important role in stabilizing global industrial chains and supply chains, and promoting opening-up and economic globalization.

By Zhou Hanmin

The author is a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the deputy head of the China National Democratic Construction Association.