China closed the seventh edition of its International Import Expo (CIIE) on Sunday, which saw a 2% increase year-on-year in the volume of “intentional agreements” signed.
The total amount of these agreements which express the intention to carry out a specific transaction reaches 80,010 million dollars (74,621 million euros), public broadcaster CCTV reported.
The organizers were counting on participation in the event of 3,500 companies from 152 countriesregions and international organizations.
Likewise, the presence of 297 of the 500 largest global companies according to the list established by the American magazine Fortune, eight more than in the previous edition.
Spain was represented with a total of 67 exhibitorswith a particular presence in the food and agricultural products pavilions (with stands from Borges or the Interporc pork association) and consumer goods (Zara, Isdin, etc.).
According to the CIIE database, more than 160 participants from Latin American countrieswith Brazil (82) and Argentina (43) as the main protagonists, participated in the event.
“Every year, companies from Latin America and the Caribbean cross oceans to participate in this event at the CIIE” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said this week at a press conference in which she highlighted the variety of the region’s products, such as Chilean high mountain cherries.
Mao explained that products like “White shrimp from Honduras, coffee or honey and seafood from Nicaragua” have gained popularity among Chinese consumers.
Furthermore, he mentioned that the Chilean Association of Fruit Exporters signed agreements with e-commerce platforms in China, which “facilitates the arrival of these products among Chinese consumers”.
The event was celebrated with the context of economic uncertainty in the country Asia and also coinciding with an important meeting of national legislators, who announced this Friday that the plan to repay the “hidden debt” of the country’s local and regional governments and thus clean up their accounting balances would amount to a total of 10,000 billion yuan (1.4 billion dollars, 1.3 billion euros).
Thus, with other previous measurement packages and various stimuli, Beijing wants to give new impetus to economic recovery for the moment less brilliant than expected.
The CIIE was held for the first time in 2018 and since then it has maintained its annual presence in the eastern city of Shanghai, although it was hampered during the pandemic years by China’s “zero covid” directive, which made it extremely difficult for representatives of foreign companies.
Although some companies see the CIIE as an opportunity to strengthen their presence in China and establish contacts with local importers, which some cases crystallize into business after a whileothers view it as a symbolic event and largely political in nature.
