To keep up with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, organizers of this year’s China International Fair for Investment & Trade announced a series of priorities at a promotional event in Beijing on Tuesday.
The emphasis of this year’s fair will be on innovation and entrepreneurship, free trade policies, Internet Plus and multinational cooperation and solutions to tackle overcapacity.
Sponsored by China’s Ministry of Commerce, the fair is held annually in Xiamen, Fujian province, from Sept 8 to 11. The Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Convention and Exhibition Affairs is the fair’s organizer.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization plans to mark its 50th anniversary with a series of events at this year’s fair to address environment-friendly industrial development, inclusiveness and sustainable growth.
This year, the fair will invite enterprises and organizations from the countries and regions along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to put up exhibitions, network and find business partners. A purpose-built area will be allocated to accommodate the international guests.
The 138,000-square-meter exhibition area will be largest ever, with 6,000 booths available.
Organizers have planned this year’s exhibitions with a focus on industrial chain and the connection between different industries. “Made in China” products from across the country will get a special exhibition space at the fair to show off China’s manufacturing strength.
A special zone will be set up to introduce the ten industries prioritized in China’s 13th Five-Year Plan and investors will have the opportunities to have direct talks with exhibitors there. China’s investment and international cooperation policies will also be introduced in this zone.
Malaysia, one of the nations along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, has already booked an 800 sq m exhibition area at the fair.
The Guest Country of Honor from last year, Bahrain, will participate in the fair this year to represent the Gulf region.
Italy is vying for the Guest Country of Honor title at this year’s fair. If it gets the title, it will host related events in cooperation with the fair’s organizers.
China’s Ministry of Commerce, China Central Television and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization will host the International Investment Forum (the IIF) around the same time. Policy makers, academicians and business leaders from across the globe will talk about new investment trends at the forum sessions. They will also share their thoughts on Belt and Road Initiative, China’s free trade policies and challenges and opportunities facing global economies.
In collaboration with the fair’s organizers, Fortune Magazine will host a forum for political leaders and high-ranking officers from world’s largest companies to explore new ways of generating wealth.
A swath of thematic symposiums will take place at the fair, including the China-Israel industrial and technological cooperation summit, the overseas Chinese investment summit (sponsored by the overseas Chinese affairs office at State Council of China), the international friendship cities forum (sponsored by the China International Friendship Cities Association), the international crowd-funding forum and the Australia-China business forum.
Several organizations will take the advantage of the fair to release research reports. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization will release the Africa Investor Report 2016, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development will release the World Investment Report 2016 and the China Association of Private Equity will present its research report on global M&A activities in 2016.
Diplomats from 30 countries and regions attended the promotional event on March 22, alongside representatives from 200 business promotion organizations and multinational corporations.
Sun Zhenyu, former deputy minister of commerce; Li Yong, deputy director of investment promotion unit under the commerce ministry; and Ni Chao, deputy mayor of Xiamen, addressed the Tuesday event in Beijing.
Shen Jingyi, director of the investment promotion bureau from Jiangxi province (the Guest Province of Honor at the 2016 fair), Mr. Augusto Massari from the Italian Embassy in Beijing, and Xia Hua, chairwoman of Eve Group also spoke at the event.
Representatives from Air China, the fair’s sole airline partner, attended the event and delivered a speech.
Vice chairman of Zhisland.com, the interpersonal networking platform for Chinese business elite, also spoke at the event. Zhisland.com and the organizing committee of the fair signed an agreement for strategic cooperation and became one of the partners of the fair’s organizer.
China announced and implemented on May 15 a policy allowing visa-free entry of foreign tourist groups aboard cruise ships via all cruise ship ports along the country's coastline.
China and Georgia are set to waive visa requirements for travelers starting May 28.
