Organizers announce new efforts to help global enterprises tap into opportunities under new paradigm in China

Preparations for the 2021 China International Import Expo are progressing steadily with the launch of the Agricultural Products Industry Special Committee on Jan 20 and the addition of two subsections for integrated circuits and biomedicine to the business exhibition.

The event organizers said the new setup will further advance the professionalism of the annual trade fair, strengthen business communication and support the development of relevant industries. To boost the country's new development pattern "dual circulation", the CIIE has stepped up efforts to help global businesses better tap into vast opportunities in China.

The Agricultural Products Industry Special Committee of the fourth China International Import Expo Enterprise Alliance is formed by 11 major agricultural products exhibitors that have attended the CIIE, including Louis Dreyfus, Lesaffre, Dole, CP Group, Tyson and Zespri.

According to Ma Zheng, vice-president of Cargill China, the committee will focus on attracting more overseas agricultural producers to the CIIE; giving suggestions to policy makers in fields such as food safety, trade facilitation, environmental protection and pandemic control; and promoting communication with other special committees under the China International Import Expo Enterprise Alliance to boost joint innovation.

The CIIE revealed the first two special committees－focusing on dairy and public health and epidemic prevention, in July 2020. So far, eight special committees of the expo across different sectors－public health and pandemic prevention, dairy, industrial digital transformation, auto innovative development, smart supply chain, daily consumer products, sports and agricultural products－have been launched from 2020 onwards.

Special committees have played a significant role in expanding awareness of the CIIE and attracting industrial top players to the event to enhance its professional service standards, according to the organizers of the CIIE.

As an example, Liu Fuxue, deputy director-general of the CIIE Bureau, said at a cosmetics and consumer goods industry seminar on Jan 20 that the Special Committee of Consumer Goods for Daily Use played a significant role in supporting the third CIIE with a slew of stunning promotional events.

"Some beauty technologies unveiled at the 2020 CIIE have been leading digitalization trends in the global cosmetics industry and have attracted the attention of global media," he said.

Apart from setting up more special committees to strengthen communication and information sharing, four special subsections dedicated to public health and anti-pandemic products and services, smart transportation, energy conservation and sports goods, had been revealed for the 2020 CIIE.

This year, participants will see more subsections make their debut with more cutting-edge technologies in November.

On Dec 16, the CIIE organizers announced the launch of a special subsection for integrated circuit exhibitors within the intelligent industry & information technology exhibition area of the 2021 edition.

"We hope to attract companies across the entire industrial chain to showcase their offerings, from materials and devices to design and manufacturing, to completed final products and applications," said Tian Ye, who is responsible for the intelligent industry& information technology exhibition at the CIIE Bureau.

Xu Wei, secretary-general of the Shanghai Integrated Circuit Association, said the special subsection will strengthen business exchanges and cooperation between domestic and international companies in the industry, while the special committee will help connect companies with related industry associations and government agencies.

The plan to open a new biomedicine subsection within the medical equipment and healthcare exhibition area was announced on Feb 25. The new zone will feature new biological products and therapies as well as research and development platforms and biotechnologies like biochips and enzyme engineering.

"We would like to invite leading companies in the industry to participate in the featured zone to showcase their cutting-edge biomedicine products and technologies, and promote exchanges and innovations in the industry," Xu said.

With more special committees and subsections revealed, the annual event is gaining recognition from exhibitors for "each exhibition section being a comprehensive trade fair for each specific industry".

"The CIIE is the first trade platform in China that has successfully attracted all top players in the sports industry to attend," said Wang Tingting, vice-president of Decathlon China at a promotional event for the sports goods subsection of the fourth expo on Wednesday. "The special committee and subsection of sports has lured professional brands in niche segments to take part in the event and boost the vitality of the global market."

Zoro Xu, marketing director of sports brand Skechers, said: "During the 2019 edition, Skechers came for trade and for our brand. In 2020, in the sports subsection where dozens of international professional sports brands showed up, we represented the entire sports industry and we are responsible for leading future trends."

Through attending the annual event, global enterprises will contribute their expertise and efforts to embracing and making solid inroads in China at a time when the dual-circulation pattern takes shape.

Info box

Registration for the business exhibition of the 2021 CIIE is now open.

Please visit the CIIE website www.ciie.org/zbh/en/  to register.

By Yuan Shenggao