Top companies at CIIE matchmaking session

Exhibitors and buyers in the trade in services sector and the automobile industry took part in a matchmaking session on Friday ahead of the third China International Import Expo to be held in Shanghai in November.

The event brought together more than 400 exhibitors, buyers, staff of industry organizations and media, including more than 60 overseas exhibiting companies and over 100 purchasers. More exhibitors and buyers grasped the opportunity to talk with potential partners via an online platform.

Among the participating exhibitors were Global Fortune 500 enterprises and leading companies in their industries, including auto firms or auto parts suppliers Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, General Motors, Ford Motor, Jaguar Land Rover, Tesla and Michelin, as well as companies in the trade in services sector such as HSBC Holdings, Orix, Kuehne + Nagel International AG, KPMG, CBRE Group and Savills.

A group of giants in the trade in services industry, including HSBC Holdings, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, and Marriott International, signed a memorandum of cooperation to participate in the CIIE for the next three years.

Meanwhile, central enterprises and industry leaders such as PetroChina, State Grid, China South Industries Group, Dongfeng Motor Group, BAIC Group, SAIC Motor Group, iFlytek and Tong Ren Tang attended as buyers.

Liu Fuxue, deputy director of the China International Import Expo Bureau, said the third expo would help in the major task of ensuring stability on six fronts — employment, the financial sector, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment and expectations, and security in six areas — job security, basic living needs, operations of market entities, food and energy security, stable industrial and supply chains, and the normal functioning of primary-level governments. 

Liu reiterated the determination to hold a high-quality CIIE this year to further expand opening-up under the new conditions of epidemic prevention and control and the complex international trade situation.

"It will play a positive role in stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment, promoting consumption and ensuring the stability of supply chains and industrial chains," Liu said. 

"The expo will become a strong support for the domestic circulation as well as a key linkage in the 'dual circulation' which takes the domestic market as the mainstay while letting domestic and foreign markets boost each other," Liu said. "It can also serve as a platform offering new opportunities for companies to get through the current crisis."

Ma Fengmin, the bureau’s financial director, said preparations for the third CIIE had shifted focus from attracting exhibitors to drawing buyers and organizing the expo. Ma said the pre-expo supply-demand matchmaking sessions have achieved good results.

"The sessions had covered four exhibition areas in days before, with more than 600 enterprises participating, some of which had already signed agreements on site for cooperation," Ma said.

French tire manufacturer Michelin, for instance, will bring its Vision tire to the event, an innovative concept tire to demonstrate the company's way toward safer, smarter, greener mobility, according to Kamran-Charles Vossoughi, president and CEO of Michelin China.

Via the CIIE, a platform for companies to build and strengthen connection with each other, Michelin looks forward to establishing closer connections with Chinese people, Chinese market and China’s development, Vossoughi said, "to capture needs of customers and consumers, and better understand the changes and trends of Chinese market and optimize our development strategies.

"Through major official activities such as the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, we can further understand the plans and requirements of China's high-quality development, and we will contribute to this process.”

United Parcel Service, an American multinational delivery and supply chain management company, will take part in the expo for the third consecutive year to share the latest enhancements of its services and smart solutions, featuring enhanced flexibility, efficiency and connectivity.

"CIIE has allowed UPS to reach customers with greater precision and gain a better understanding of market dynamics and specific customers’ needs, enabling us to continue developing solutions to optimize their supply chain strategies," said Michelle Ho, president of UPS China.