CIIE roadshow promotes Chinese opportunities to UK business sector

The sixth China International Import Expo, the annual importthemed trade fair set for Shanghai in November, held a roadshow in London last week to promote to UK businesses.

The roadshow attracted about 200 attendees from various sectors, including trade, finance and technology. Among them, five companies and organizations, including the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Ekman Recycling and Top Sun Technology Development, signed collaboration agreements with the expo’s organizer CIIE Bureau.

About 250 companies from the United Kingdom have participated in the previous five editions of the expo, the bureau said.

Bao Ling, minister counselor of China’s embassy in the UK, attended the roadshow and said the CIIE has become an important platform for countries around the world to engage in economic and trade cooperation with China since its inception in 2018.

“According to UK statistics, the bilateral trade between China and the UK exceeded 110 billion pounds ($136 billion) last year. This fully reflects the resilience and complementarity of the Chinese and UK economies,” she said.

Liu Fuxue, deputy director-general of the CIIE Bureau, said the CIIE will continue to serve as a platform for quality foreign goods and services wanting to enter the Chinese market on the fast track.

Opening-up policy

The expo will become even more important because China has a consistent opening-up policy, a huge market with 400 million middle-class consumers and an everimproving business environment, Liu said.

“We are looking forward to the UK organizations and enterprises continuing to play their strengths and organizing more quality exhibitors to participate in the event,” he said.

Lise Bertelsen, executive director of the China-Britain Business Council, said the organization will encourage more members to participate in the CIIE after signing a memorandum of understanding with the CIIE Bureau to deepen the partnership.

Fang Wenjian, chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK and general manager of the Bank of China London branch, said the expo is not only about selling products in a one-off way, but also about long-term cooperation.

“Every year, one of the signature events that the Bank of China promotes on this occasion is a matchmaking event,” Fang said. “We bring UK SMEs and Chinese SMEs together to sit down and discuss business opportunities, not only about product sales but also how they can work together for the long term.”

Brenda Gordon, global director of business development at events company RX, also announced the company’s participation in the upcoming CIIE at the roadshow. RX sees China as one of its crucial markets and will hold about 70 business exhibitions across the country this year, she said.

James Stewart, founder of investment and advisory company Menlo Partners LLP, attended the roadshow and was particularly interested in CIIE’s innovation incubator section.

“It shows that the CIIE is not only geared toward large international companies, but is also encouraging early-stage businesses to determine if there are potential partners to develop trading links and the stress is very much in the longer term,” he said.