Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, largeexhibitions around the world have been cancelled, even the Tokyo Olympics hadto be postponed.

As one of the three major exhibitionplatforms for China's opening-up, the China International Import Expo (CIIE)has attracted worldwide attention.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said that thehosting of the third China International Import Expo demonstrates the country'ssincere desire to share its market opportunities with the world and contributeto global economic recovery.

Third CIIE concludes with tentative dealsworth $72.62 bln

The third China International Import Expo(CIIE) concluded on November 2, with tentative deals worth $72.62 billionreached for one-year purchases of goods and services, a 2.1 percent increasefrom the last expo, data from event organizers showed.

Sun Chenghai, deputy director of ChinaInternational Import Expo Bureau said that the cooperation intentions of allparties have not been curtailed even with the COVID-19 epidemic stillspreading.

The six-day exhibition was held on scheduledespite the pandemic. Flocking to this year's CIIE were returnees from pastexpos as well as new faces, including nearly 50 Fortune 500 andindustry-leading companies.

Exhibitors from around the world haveshowcased cutting-edge technologies and new products and services at sixpavilions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in akeynote speech at the opening ceremony of the third CIIE that the hosting ofthe expo demonstrates China's sincere desire to share its market opportunitieswith the world and contribute to global economic recovery.

He added that the total import into Chinais estimated to top $22 trillion in the coming decade.

Noting that the opening-up measures heannounced at last year's CIIE have been fully implemented, Xi pledged more opendomestic and international circulations for not only China's own developmentneeds but also the greater benefit of people in all countries.

Thanks to its effective pandemic controlmeasures, China has made the swiftest recovery from the pandemic among majoreconomies. In the first three quarters, its economy expanded by 0.7 percentfrom a year earlier. The country's total imports and exports also recordedpositive year-on-year growth in the same period.

China has been promoting Double DevelopmentDynamic (DDD), also known as "dual circulation" development patternsince May. The strategy indicates an economic development pattern that takes domesticdevelopment as the mainstay, with domestic and international developmentreinforcing each other.

Many international institutions haverecently raised their expectations for China's economic growth. China isbelieved to be the only major economy in the world to achieve a positive growthrate in 2020.

The World Bank has raised China's GDPgrowth forecast for 2020 from one percent to two percent, and the IMF hasraised its 2020 economic growth forecast from 1 percent to 1.9 percent.

An event like the China InternationalImport Expo (CIIE) helps improve global trade and simulate economic recovery,said Geoffrey Okamoto, First Deputy Managing Director of the InternationalMonetary Fund.

Okamoto said China plays an important roleinternationally, especially as this time when the pandemic continues to hit theglobal economy, citing the country's moves under way to help multilateralefforts.

CIIE helps foreign brands enter China

This year 400,000 purchasers from 112,000companies registered for the expo this year. German home appliance makerVorwerk, an old fan of the expo, is ready to share experience gained from theChinese market to other regions and promote its global connections.

The company's China sales rose 30 percentafter attending the first CIIE in 2018. And the second CIIE last year gave thecompany an additional growth burst of 41 percent.

The U.S. commercial real estate servicesprovider, CBRE, which debuts at the CIIE this year, also considers the CIIE agreat platform to unlock new business opportunities.

Meanwhile, booming online shopping in Chinaduring the pandemic is pushing forward the rapid expansion of cross-bordere-commerce.

China has continued to open up and expandimports by promoting the rapid development of the digital economy and cross-bordere-commerce, making it an attractive global brand market for overseas companies.

The China International Import Expo (CIIE)is one of the world's largest trade fairs, offering a big stage for overseasbrands and a "fast lane" for Chinese online companies to introducemore goods to the market.

"The online economy has given usconsumers more choices. As the e-commerce market in China is set to expandlong-term, new shopping platforms like livestreaming apps are growing,"said Peng Lihui, secretary-general of the China Electronics Chamber of CommerceConsumers.

Overseas consumer markets have been plaguedby the COVID-19 pandemic and cross-border e-commerce has paved the way forforeign brands to enter China. The transition for products from the booth tothe online shopping cart is getting faster and faster.

Cross-border e-commerce is expected to playa bigger role in revitalizing foreign trade. Accelerating digitalization canhelp small and medium-sized enterprises withstand the pandemic's affect ontrade activities. 

Analysts say Chinese enterprises shouldfocus on product quality, and maintain global market shares as well as theinternational supply chain to promote exports.

As China International Import Expo (CIIE)went into its third day on November 7, nearly a thousand exhibitors and buyerssigned over 500 cooperation intentions. The expo included a two-day "Tradeand Investment Matchmaking Conference." It focused on major industriesmaking food and agricultural products, automobiles and smart technology.

As China has vowed to continue to expandliberalizing policies and improve economic efficiency through externalcompetition, the CIIE sends a very strong signal that China is committed toglobalization, global trade, and rule-based global trade system, said DenisDepoux, global managing director at Roland Berger.

CIIE attracts global businesses backed byChina's recovery

China has made every effort to fightagainst the pandemic this year. With restoring Wuhan's transportationconnections to the rest of China as a milestone, China's fight against COVID-19has achieved a staged victory.

The fact that China is able to host itsthird imports expo as planned is a testament to China's victory in fightingagainst COVID-19 this year. Not only is the Chinese economy one of the fewbright spots in the world economy at the moment, it will also help stabilizeglobal trade and investment in the post-epidemic era.

The 3rd CIIE exhibited China's enormousmarket to the world. With the largest middle income population in the world,China's huge market potential has become as attractive as its matureworld-class supply chain and production networks.

A series of commitments announced at the2nd CIIE have been fully implemented. China continued to expand imports, andthe growth rate of China's imports of goods and services in the past year wassignificantly higher than the global average level which has been the greatstimulus to the global economy.

The number of China's free trade zones wasincreased from 18 to 21. The overall plan for the construction of free tradeport in Hainan and the implementation plan for further reform and opening-up inShenzhen have taken place.

Great progress has been made in highstandard free trade agreements. Based on the experiences of CIIE, Chinaannounced to build up demonstration zones to promote import trade.

More than 400 new products were launched atthe 3rd CIIE, along with cutting-edge technology.A group of exhibitors who areoptimistic about the Chinese market will likely choose to invest or expandproduction capacity in China.

China has devised the strategy of a dualcirculation economy based on the country's current economic goal which is tomake sure its economy becomes more balanced.

Through this strategy, China does want tostrengthen its domestic economy in relation to its external economy. A healthyeconomy cannot exist without its international market.