SHANGHAI, Nov. 4– After a journey of more than two months across continents and oceans, machinery from WFL Millturn Technologies cleared customs in Shanghai last month for this year’s China International Import Expo (CIIE), carrying the Austrian manufacturer’s hopes of expanding further into Chinese and wider Asia-Pacific markets.
“I don’t see any good reason why we will not be successful in China in the upcoming decades,” said WFL Managing Director Stefan Hackl. His company will make a double debut: its first appearance at the import expo after more than 20 years in the Chinese market, and the Asian debut of its brand-new machine tool.
The company’s confidence is rooted in part in the vision behind the CIIE, an initiative championed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has personally planned and steered its development. Designed to give overseas businesses greater access to the vast and growing Chinese market, the expo has increasingly turned China’s development into opportunities for the world.
Now in its ninth year, the CIIE has become a regular fixture on the global trade calendar. Running from Nov. 5 to 10, the expo will bring together 4,142 overseas exhibitors, including more than 2,000 first-time participants like WFL.
In the weeks leading up to the expo, shipments from around the world continued to arrive in Shanghai, bringing in a diverse range of products, from Peruvian bananas and French tires to Australian coffee and Kazakh ice cream, all ready to meet buyers at the event.
As the world’s first national-level exhibition dedicated to imports, the CIIE offers a compelling response to rising protectionism and trade barriers. Rather than viewing trade as a competition for a limited share of global demand, it seeks to make the world economic pie bigger by creating opportunities for businesses and economies to grow together.
“Our aim is to turn the China market into a market for the world, a market shared by all, and a market accessible to all,” Xi has said. “This way, we will be able to bring more positive energy to the global community.”
A PROMISE KEPT
In his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the first CIIE in 2018, Xi said the expo is “an important decision made by China to pursue a new round of high-level opening-up, and is China’s major initiative to still widen market access to the rest of the world.”
“China’s initiative to expand imports is not a choice of expediency. It is a future-oriented step taken to embrace the world and promote common development,” Xi said, pledging that the event would be held annually and “feature good performance, good results and continued success in the years to come.”
Eight years on, the CIIE has grown into a premier global platform for trade, investment and cultural exchanges, connecting businesses, innovators and consumers from around the world. The promise of an annual expo with lasting results has been borne out by its growth.
Past editions have drawn more than 180 countries, regions and international organizations and seen more than 3,400 new products, technologies and services make their debut, while cumulative intended deals have exceeded 580 billion U.S. dollars, according to the organizer.
“The CIIE is far more than a trade show,” said Jérôme Vanachter, president of Lesaffre Greater China. The French yeast maker is back for a ninth consecutive edition this year.
Calling the expo a “market-intelligence hub,” Vanachter said the CIIE helps turn market insights into products.
Past expos have also seen Xi announce a series of opening-up measures, including advancing the development of pilot free trade zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), continuously trimming the negative lists for foreign investment, and expanding the opening of telecommunications, healthcare and other services.
These pledges were followed by concrete actions. In November 2024, China removed the last two manufacturing-related restrictions from its national negative list for foreign investment. Last December, the Hainan FTP launched island-wide special customs operations, a milestone in China’s drive for high-standard opening-up.
“Today, the CIIE has become a showcase of China’s new development paradigm, a platform for high-standard opening-up, and a public good for the whole world,” Xi said at the fifth edition of the event in 2022.
The role of the CIIE in China’s opening-up agenda is expected to continue in the years ahead. In its five-year development blueprint for the 2026-2030 period, the country has called for expanding imports and continuing to hold the CIIE and other major trade fairs, including the Canton Fair in south China, while strengthening trade-promotion platforms.
A MARKET SHARED BY ALL
“Economic globalization represents the trend of history,” Xi said at the second CIIE in 2019, likening it to the world’s great rivers — the Yangtze, the Nile, the Amazon and the Danube, which all “surge forward in relentless flow, and nothing can stop their mighty movement.”
China has been translating this vision into action by opening wider. Quality products from an increasing number of countries are finding a foothold in the Chinese market, generating profits for businesses, wages for workers and tax revenues in their home countries.
For 17 consecutive years, China has remained the world’s second-largest importer. Also in the first three quarters of 2026, the country’s imports rose 22.3 percent year on year, significantly outpacing export growth.
“The vastly huge China market is the most promising in the world,” Xi noted at the third CIIE in 2020, citing the country’s huge population and vast middle-income group.
The country’s retail sales of consumer goods surpassed 50 trillion yuan (about 7.44 trillion U.S. dollars) for the first time last year, and are expected to grow by another 10 trillion yuan over the next five years.
The appeal of the Chinese market is reflected in the growing participation of global businesses in the CIIE, which has attracted a record number of more than 300 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders this year.
In terms of exhibition space, U.S. exhibitors lead for the eighth consecutive year, occupying more than 50,000 square meters, while companies from Germany, the United Kingdom and France also rank among the top participants.
Over 480 products are set to make their global, Asian or China debut at the event, the highest number in history, underscoring the Chinese market’s growing role as a launchpad for global innovation.
Under Xi’s leadership, China has also sought to make the opportunities offered by its market more accessible to developing countries. For years, the CIIE has provided free exhibition booths to exhibitors from the world’s least developed countries.
This year, according to the organizer, the exhibition area for African businesses is set to increase steadily, while the space allocated for free booths for the least developed countries will expand by 17 percent.
An official delegation from Cote d’Ivoire will make its first appearance at the CIIE’s business exhibition this year, showcasing cocoa, coffee, cashews and kola nuts. In May, a zero-tariff policy took effect on imports from all 53 African countries with which China has diplomatic relations.
“We are very happy to participate for the first time,” said Rami Koné, an official with the country’s export agency. “This will be a good opportunity to showcase Cote d’Ivoire to the world.”
“Of the problems confronting the world economy, none can be resolved by a single country alone,” Xi once said. “We must all put the common good of humanity first rather than place one’s own interest above the common interest of all.”
As Xi has pledged, China will continue to open its arms to the world, offering countries greater opportunities for market access, investment and growth. “Together, we can achieve development for all,” he has said. (Namibia Daily News/Xinhua)
