Upcoming CIIE significant against backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic, says BMW China chief

BERLIN - Organizing this year's China International Import Expo (CIIE) is of particular significance against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, said BMW China chief Jochen Goller in a recent written interview with Xinhua.

The CIIE, the first dedicated import exhibition in the world, is scheduled to open its third edition in early November in Shanghai.

"This year's event is particularly significant because of the pandemic. China was the first country to successfully fight the pandemic among major global economies. Thanks to that, our business in China is also recovering quickly," Goller noted.

In the first nine months of this year, sales of the Bavarian company in China were 6.4 percent more than the same period of 2019.

It is "a very hard-earned result in this very unusual year," Goller said, while giving his salute to the medical staff for their dedication during the fight against the pandemic.

"We are very happy to join the CIIE for the 3rd consecutive year. We see the CIIE as the symbol of China's continuous opening-up, which has brought sustainable success for the country over the past four decades," he added.

In his opinion, the event presents a great opportunity for the BMW Group to showcase its stands and products in its largest market worldwide.

According to Goller, BMW is also encouraged by policies from the Chinese government to further open up and to continuously optimize market environment.

Earlier this year, BMW partnered with China's e-commerce giant Alibaba to create a joint innovation base in China, which Goller sees as a valuable project fostered by the openness and innovation by the local government.

"We look forward to more measures of opening-up, which we believe will give the international companies more room to expand their footprint, and will also benefit Chinese customers," he continued.

According to the German automaker, its joint venture BMW Brilliance has invested over 64 billion yuan in northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang since 2009.

Meanwhile, the joint venture Spotlight Automotive Ltd. between BMW and its Chinese partner Great Wall Motor is progressing as planned with a joint investment of 5.1 billion yuan.

"So in summary, we are confident in the long term prospect of the Chinese market and will continue to invest in the country. And we are continuing (with) further investments and partnerships here in China," Goller said.