Chinese President Xi Jinping on Nov. 4 addressed the gathering of businessmen who have come to the third China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai. While there will be many guests attending, given the COVID pandemic much of the exhibit will be online. There have been over 100,000 people who have signed up for the Expo and over 1,500 businesses will exhibit, including many Fortune 500 companies. The exhibit area has also expanded by 30,000 sq. meters more than the previous two Expos. And there will be a large area devoted solely to medical equipment.
President Xi rolled out the red carpet for those attending. “Despite the impact of the epidemic, China’s pace of opening up is still accelerating this year,” Xi said. “The series of measures I announced at the second China International Import Expo to expand opening up have been fully implemented. China continues to expand imports, and the growth rate of China’s imports of goods and services over the past year has been significantly higher than the global average. The negative list of foreign investment access has been reduced from 40 to 33, and the number of pilot free trade zones has increased from 18 to 21.”
