CIIE's success, bookings for 2023 show foreign firms''in China, for the world' approach

After years of watching their market influence soar in China on the back of their participation in the annual China International Import Expo, foreign companies such as ABB Group of Switzerland, Tapestry Group of the United States and Kao Corp of Japan have gone ahead and booked booths for the sixth CIIE, which will be held in Shanghai in November 2023.

In the second week of November, after the fifth expo concluded, the CIIE Bureau, the event's organizer, unveiled data that showed the total value of contracts grew by 3.9 percent year-on-year to $73.5 billion.

Business executives and market watchers said the CIIE has already become a signature event of China's opening-up, and an avenue to showcase innovative solutions. Some even said the expo is an unrivaled occasion to tap into the potential of the country's lucrative and vast market.

The CIIE's success indicates China's economic prospects are shining ever so brightly, they said. More than 100,000 square meters of exhibition area space for the next CIIE has already been reserved, according to the CIIE Bureau.

"If the current strategy of foreign investors in China is 'in China, for the country', then the next upgrade direction is likely to be 'in China, for the world'," said Arnold Li, senior vice-president of Ingersoll Rand, the Davidson, North Carolina-headquartered industrial goods manufacturer and a five-time CIIE participant.

By holding the CIIE for five years, China has brought an increasing number of cooperation opportunities for companies and organizations across the world. A large number of overseas exhibitors have found suitable opportunities and turned themselves into investors during the expo, he said.