World's first national exhibition on supply chains offers strong impetus for global cooperation

The just-concluded China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE), the world's first national exhibition on supply chains, yielded fruitful results, with many participating firms saying they are looking forward to extended supply chain cooperation.

A total of more than 200 cooperation agreements and tentative agreements were signed during the five-day event, with a total value of more than 150 billion yuan (about 21.1 billion U.S. dollars), said Zhang Shaogang, vice chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), the host of the CISCE, on Saturday.

Zhang said that with fruitful outcomes achieved during the expo, nearly 50 multinational companies, including medical technology firm GE Healthcare, enterprise application software provider SAP and AI company iFLYTEK, have already signed up for the CISCE next year. They have said they are looking forward to unlocking more cooperation opportunities with business partners.

The event drew more than 1,100 representatives of government departments, business communities and international organizations to participate in relevant forums and exchange views on global industrial and supply chains.

More than 510 domestic and foreign firms ranging from the world's top 500 enterprises to innovation-driven "little giant" firms exhibited their latest products and technologies focusing on smart cars, green agriculture, clean energy, digital technology, and the health and lifestyle sector.

They said they believe that the CISCE provides a stage for countries around the world to beef up cooperation in the sector by sharing resources and complementing one another on industrial and supply chains, working to promote the recovery and growth of the world economy.

HIGH HOPES FOR CHINA MARKET

Foreign exhibitors, including those from the United States such as Tesla and Apple, said they see that China plays a key role in global supply chains, and expressed their hope to strengthen cooperation with Chinese companies and take root in the country for their long-term development toward a smarter and greener future.

Our company's vision to produce the best product in the world is inseparable from a globalized supply chain, and 'Made in China' is a crucial part of it, Isabel Ge Mahe, Apple's vice president and managing director of the Greater China Region, told Xinhua in an interview.

Of the top 200 suppliers that account for 98 percent of Apple's global procurement, manufacturing and assembly businesses, 151 have production activities in China, she added. The consumer technology giant brought its Chinese suppliers to the first CISCE, displaying the intelligent and green manufacturing technologies used on Apple's Chinese production lines.

Pointing to a robotic arm engraving the Chinese zodiac sign of the rabbit onto the surface of an egg, Iris Cui, Apple's vice-president of operations and purchasing management for Asia, said, "The Chinese suppliers majoring in intelligent manufacturing are leading the world."

Cui said Apple will continue to invest in opportunities and innovation in China by strengthening investment in the intelligent manufacturing sector while improving the localization rate.

CLOSER BONDS ON GREEN SHIFT

The latest technologies focusing on clean energy and green transformation propelling China's decarbonization drive also drew attention from influential companies in developed countries and potential partners in less developed regions.

ExxonMobil and its Chinese partners have already been collaborating to advance LNG as a source of reliable and lower-carbon energy, said Jean-Marc Taton, chairman of ExxonMobil China.

As the company plans to double its LNG supply by 2030, he said he looks forward to working with Chinese firms for future opportunities in meeting the growing demand for lower-carbon energy.

China is probably one of the best markets for clean energy, so there are many projects that we'd like to cooperate on with Chinese businesses, Tomasz Szypula, president of the Poland Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, told Xinhua.

SMALL BUT MIGHTY PLAYERS

"I heard during this conference that a lot of main agreements were reached between the biggest companies from the United States and China, but we must think about smaller companies, and the cooperation between smaller companies," Szypula said, noting that the CCPIT and the expo it provided showed effective ways to promote cooperation between companies from different countries.

According to a survey conducted by the CCPIT, nearly 90 percent of exhibitors think the expo efficiently promoted cooperation among their business partners on the same supply chains.

As one of the representatives of companies from Thailand, Sasivimol Jitbanterngpan, president of Thai-Chinese 168 Inter Technology Co., Ltd., said the health and lifestyle products displayed during the expo attracted many potential consumers attending the exhibition.

Impressed by the strong consumption capabilities of Chinese people during overseas visits or domestic trips, she said that she is prepared to bring more quality enterprises from Thailand to participate in next year's CISCE in China.