The first China International Import Expo will be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) from November 5 to 10, 2018.

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Sponsored by Shanghai University of International Business and Economics (SUIBE), the high-level symposium on the China International Import Expo and Shanghai Belt and Road Gateway Development was held in Shanghai On May 26. The participating experts discussed ways to achieve higher levels of opening up.

Shi Zhiqin, executive president of the “Belt and Road” Strategic Research Institute at Tsinghua University, said that this initiative is essential to breaking new ground for China’s opening-up on all fronts, and is a carrier of China’s promotion of opening up, international cooperation and a community of a shared future for mankind. From infrastructure construction to industrial capacity relocation and economic restructuring, this initiative is progressing with enriched content.

Zhou Pu, deputy division chief of the General Office at the International Statistical Information Center under the National Bureau of Statistics, said in recent years, China has actively conducted policy communication with international organizations and countries along the routes to integrate the Belt and Road into countries’ development visions and planning. This effort has paid off. The core idea of the “Belt and Road” initiative has been included in major policy documents of international organizations, such as the UN, G20, APEC, providing a platform that involves various participants for mutually beneficial cooperation.

Shang Qingchen, deputy division director of the Information and Technology Research Department, China Service Outsourcing Research Center, the Ministry of Commerce, said that the “Made in China” brand effect is being recognized globally, but the service sector and trade in services are still a weakness that the “Belt and Road” can help compensate for. China should fully utilize this platform to improve trade in services. For mid-west regions in China, a new round of international industry transfer can drive regional growth.

For countries along the routes that have not yet industrialized, service outsourcing can help them to improve industrial structure. On a global level, such improvements are conducive to changing the international trade landscape in which developing countries trade goods while developed countries trade services, thereby promoting liberalization of trade in services globally, Shang said.

In November 2018, the first China International Import Expo will be held in Shanghai. Zhou Hanmin, vice chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPPCC, said that Shanghai is a gateway of the “Belt and Road” initiative and the expo plays a crucial role. It is a comprehensive and professional exposition that offers an opportunity for China to achieve higher levels of opening up and higher quality of growth. The expo will provide a platform for Chinese to see the world’s manufacturing history, learn industrial updates and formulate better plans for China’s manufacturing future.

According to the CPC 19th National Congress Report, China’s economy has been transitioning from high-speed to high-quality growth. Huang Jianzhong, dean of the School of International Trade and Economics at SUIBE, said that the expo is an opportunity to promote China’s high-quality growth. The expo will highlight the comparative advantages of China as a manufacturing giant in facilitating trade in goods and China’s core competitiveness in facilitating investment as a hot investment destination. In addition, China, as a major Internet country, should make full use of the expo as a platform for data and information sharing, thereby promoting intellectual property application and technological revolution.  

 

ZHA JIANGUO and XIA LI are correspondents with Chinese Social Sciences Today.

(edited by YU HUI)