Consumer firms eye major spending spree
A1 Today, there are around 600 million people in China affected by poor and uncorrected vision. We exist to bring vision care to those in need and accelerate our company mission to help people see more, and be more. As the world's largest import fair, the CIIE is the ideal place for us to showcase our innovations and technologies, and raise awareness of the importance of good vision in China.
As an "old friend" of the CIIE, we enjoy its far-reaching impact. Its reputation means we can solicit a lot of valuable feedback as well as reach out and engage with many people. This year, we focus on showcasing our latest innovations aimed at safeguarding the full-lifecycle vision of Chinese people.
A2 The world faces unprecedented challenges today, making global cooperation more important than ever before. By hosting the CIIE, China is playing a leading role and demonstrating its commitment to opening-up and promoting free trade. For foreign enterprises, this year's CIIE also showcases China's economic resilience and potential, having achieved much progress in the fight against COVID-19. This will further enhance our confidence in and commitment to the Chinese market.
Against this backdrop, EssilorLuxottica is fully committed to the Chinese market and accelerating our pace in the delivery of more cutting-edge innovations to consumers and partners in the country.
A3 According to the World Bank WDI database, China's contribution to global economic growth averaged 38.6 percent from 2013 to 2021, making it the largest contributor worldwide. China is a market not only with great potential, but also offering significant learning opportunities. In China, we have gained valuable experience and knowledge that will continue to shape the development of our global business.
A4 Since around 600 million people in China are affected by poor and uncorrected vision, we see substantial needs in China's eye care and eyewear industry, driven in part by increased consumer awareness of vision care and the changing lifestyles of Chinese consumers.
The 14th Five-Year National Eye Health Plan (2021-25) launched by the National Health Commission has identified the need to further build a high-quality and efficient eye health service system. On this front, we see opportunities to enhance the industry so that we can better protect the full-lifecycle vision. This can be achieved through closer collaboration with our industry partners and proactively pursuing innovation pathways for talent, products and service situations.
A5 We are glad to see China has reaffirmed its commitment to high-level opening-up at the recent 20th CPC National Congress and believe it will create more opportunities in the future. Since entering the Chinese market in the 1990s, we've grown tremendously alongside the rising Chinese economy. Today, EssilorLuxottica has over 20,000 employees, over 1,000 retail stores, two R&D centers and four production bases in Shanghai, Dongguan in Guangdong province, Danyang in Jiangsu province, and Xiamen in Fujian province.
Looking ahead, we will further invest in developing all vision-related product categories and aspire to lead each channel as dedicated vision advocates, passionate awareness campaigners and innovative eyewear pioneers.
