CIIE – China gives the world a platform for rapprochement

Editor's note: Seymur Mammadov, a special commentator for CGTN, is the director of the international expert club EurAsiaAz and editor-in-chief of Azerbaijan news agency Baku Tribune. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE) has opened in Shanghai. This year, it is taking place in the context of events dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). One could even say that CIIE is the central event within the anniversary program.

The development of civilization is driven by trade. Humanity moved on to development when the need for trade arose. New lands were also opened to create trade routes. China today is opening up such "new lands" to the whole world through its projects. The peculiarity of Chinese initiatives is that they are always designed for global rather than narrowly national interests. And therefore, these initiatives find support and acquire a wide partner network. 

In this regard, the international exhibition of imported goods has today become an important link in the formation of a single trade space, bound by common interests and far from unhealthy competition. The philosophy is that everyone should have the opportunity to present their goods and everyone has the right to trade with whoever best suits their interests. And the choice is very wide. And it's hard to remember any other platform where so many conditional sellers and buyers would gather as in the CIIE space.

The popularity of the exhibition in the world is evidenced by the following fact. According to a report by Miaojian Information experts, following the results of the 2022 event, more than 1.7 million news items were published in the world's leading media, and topics related to the exhibition were in the top hot searches more than 30 times during the monitoring period.

This year, more than 150 countries, regions and international organizations are participating in CIIE. The exhibition, as in previous years, includes a business exhibition, a country exhibition, the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, a number of supporting events, as well as humanitarian exchange events. The scale of the exposition has expanded significantly, this time 289 of the world's 500 largest enterprises and industry giants are taking part in the business segment of the exhibition.

About 1,500 small and medium-sized enterprises also present their products. More than 400 new products, technologies and services are demonstrated across six exhibition areas. These are pavilions for food and agricultural products, automobiles, trade in services, consumer goods, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, technology and equipment.

Many countries are participating in the exhibition for the first time. What is important is that the Chinese side encourages the participation of least developed countries in the initiative, offering them free stands, subsidies and tax breaks. It would seem that such a giant as China could have any interest in supporting underdeveloped countries when "One Belt, One Road" already has many partners who can contribute and are already making their contribution to promoting the initiative. 

But it is no coincidence that China is the initiator of the idea of a common destiny for mankind. This idea rejects the division of countries into primary and secondary ones and assumes equal and mutually beneficial cooperation. It is these concepts that form the basis of the CIIE idea.

CIIE is a platform that promotes a model of openness and accessibility of international trade for all. Economic globalization is on par with political one. And if we take into account that politics is made by economics, then the question is which of these categories to put in the first place.

Speaking at the opening of the 6th China International Import Expo, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said that in the next five years, China's total imports of goods and services are expected to reach $17 trillion, which will benefit the global market. China, he emphasized, is always ready to share the opportunities of its market.

Since 2012, China's openness index has increased by 5.6 percent, and its ranking has risen from 47th to 39th place. This suggests that China has made significant progress in promoting opening-up at a high level and has become one of the most important components in promoting economic globalization. At the same time, many developed countries showed a drop in the openness index, and overall global openness is showing a downward trend.

China is confident that overcoming global challenges requires global cooperation and we need to remove barriers, not build walls. At the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), it was stated that China will contribute to building an open global economy that will bring great benefits to all people. CIIE is an important step towards realizing this goal.

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