Welcoming the world with open arms 
2019-11-05
President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech at today’s opening of the second China International Import Expo in Shanghai, underscoring the importance of an event that seeks to burnish China’s credentials as a nation committed to opening its markets wider to world trade.
“The expo is an important initiative for China to accelerate a new round of high-quality opening-up to the outside world,” commerce vice minister Wang Bingnan said at a pre-expo event. “It demonstrates our long-term support to free trade, an open world and the construction of a shared future for all humankind.”
Last year’s inaugural expo was hailed as a great success, bringing together sellers from around the world with buyers in China. This year’s event runs through Sunday.
In addition to attending the opening, President Xi will also address the Hongqiao International Economic Forum and meet global leaders who include French President Emmanuel Macron, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.
Ren Hongbin, an assistant commerce minister, said China remains a major player in world trade despite a more moderate pace of import growth.
“The expo can further facilitate China’s imports,” Ren said. 
The stage is set at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) in Qingpu District for what is a mammoth, highly orchestrated event. The exhibition area has been expanded 11 percent from last year to the equivalent of about 60 football fields to accommodate increased interest.   
Guests and representatives from more than 170 countries and regions have confirmed their participation, with more than 500,000 buyers from home and abroad expected at the event.
The expo is divided into three main areas of interest: national exhibitions, business exhibitions and the second Hongqiao International Economic Forum.
The national exhibitions area will showcase development achievements, business environments and special industries of each participating nation.
There will be 15 guest countries of honor: Cambodia, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, India, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Peru, Russia, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Zambia.
The larger business exhibitions area, which reflects the fundamental purpose of the expo, will display equipment, consumer goods, food, health and services products from 3,000 companies across the world. 
Joseph Romanelli, senior vice president of pharmaceutical giant Merck Sharp & Dohme and president of MSD in China, said the expo is a good example of China’s commitment to its opening-up policy and his company is proud to be part of it.
“This is an important event for the country to demonstrate the accumulation of many years of opening-up,” said Romanelli during an exclusive interview with Shanghai Daily.
“It will also be a great opportunity for us to share the story of MSD in China, from its inception and early beginnings to where we are today as one of the leading biopharmaceutical companies in China.”
MSD will have its booth in the exhibition area devoted to medical equipment and health-care products.
The third adjunct of the expo, the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, will bring together top global names in business and academia to discuss China’s opening-up policies and its goal of spurring more innovation and use of advanced technology in the nation’s development. Sub-forums will look at the new trends and challenges in global economic development.
The expo gives China the opportunity to rebrand itself as a major global importer and a reliable trade partner open to buying more foreign goods. The event comes amid continuing world trade tensions that have given rise to building, not tearing down, barriers to free trade. It also comes as China’s giant, vibrant consumer market is showing no signs of slowing.
The expo is one prong of a larger Chinese strategy to expand its influence across the globe. Its Belt and Road Initiative, aimed at developing sea and land routes, and increasing trade with Central Asia and Europe, is already well underway.
Last year, the government said US$57.8 billion in contracts were signed at the inaugural expo. 
Already, many companies and nations are signing up to participate in the 2020 expo. 
