Import expo gears up as China furthers opening-up

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

Data shows that more than 280 of the world's top 500 enterprises and industry giants will participate in this year's CIIE, with nearly 90 percent of the participants from last year also joining this year.

Will Song, global senior vice president and China chairman of Johnson & Johnson, said that over the last four years the company had brought dozens of debuts to the CIIE each year, and this year at the fifth expo, it will unveil about 40 debuts.

China's Vice-Minister of Commerce Sheng Qiuping said the CIIE has given full play to its role as a window for building a cooperation platform for those engaged both at home and abroad, and has become a place for exhibitors to debut their new global products, cutting-edge technologies and innovative services.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, from 2018 to 2021, exhibitors at the four previous editions of the CIIE launched more than 1,500 new products, technologies and services, with an accumulated intended turnover exceeding $270 billion.

"We felt that the CIIE is a very good opportunity to showcase what we can bring to China and to contribute our share to the further improvement of the healthcare system," said Felix Gutsche, President & CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim China.

Gutsche said that the CIIE provides a very good platform to meet, not only with other companies, but particularly with a lot of relevant authorities and stakeholders.

"The expo also demonstrates China's sincere desire to share market opportunities with the world, and reflects China's efforts to promote the recovery of the world economy," he said.

He noted that the company has benefitted from China's improving business environment, especially the registration process of new medicine, which allows it to launch new products much sooner in China than before, and the protection of intellectual property.