TEHRAN- The 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE), will be held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10, with the participation of many countries including Iran.

This edition of the CIIE is expected to attracted participants from 152 countries, regions and international organizations, and is set to achieve a new record with 297 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders attending.

The China International Import Expo, the world's first national-level import-themed expo, is about to be held for the seventh consecutive year in Shanghai, with overseas enterprises gathering to take the pulse of the Chinese market, the China Daily reported.

The previous six editions saw nearly 2,500 new products, technologies and services make their debuts, with combined intended turnover reaching over $420 billion.

The CIIE serves to showcase China's major opening-up measures and confidence, and to share China's new development opportunities with other countries. It has become a platform for high-level opening up and a public good for the whole world.

China has continued to roll out policies to spur foreign trade growth and attract foreign investment, cultivating new international competitive advantages and achieving mutual benefits with other countries.

On October 25, the country issued a guideline to promote the experience in aligning some eligible free trade zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port with high-standard international economic and trade rules.

The eligible FTZs are in Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin, Fujian and Beijing. The pilot measures, which will be replicated in other FTZs or even nationwide, cover six aspects: trade in goods, trade in services, digital trade, personnel entry, business environment, and risk prevention and control.

China has built 22 pilot FTZs, covering coastal, inland and border areas, contributing about 20 percent of the country's total foreign investment and import-export volume. Foreign trade of the FTZs expanded by 11.99 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2024.

Continuous efforts have been made to lower tariffs. In September, China announced it would give all the least developed countries having diplomatic relations with the country zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines starting from December 1 this year.

China also keeps rolling out policies to nurture fertile ground for foreign investors. The new edition of the national negative list for foreign investment took effect on Friday, scrapping the two remaining items in the manufacturing industry on the previous list.

The items on the latest negative list, specifying fields off-limits to foreign investors, have been further slashed to 29.

This fully demonstrates China's active willingness to expand mutual benefits and a clear attitude to supporting economic globalization, said Jin Xiandong, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission, adding that further efforts will be made to improve the level of foreign investment liberalization and facilitation, and to optimize service for foreign-invested enterprises.

Besides the manufacturing sector, China is also pushing forward broader and deeper opening up in the service sector.

China announced in September that it would allow the establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitals in certain cities and regions, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and throughout the island of Hainan.

In October, the country decided to allow foreign investors to operate wholly-owned businesses such as internet data centers and engage in online data processing and transaction processing in certain areas as part of a pilot program to expand opening up in value-added telecom services.

A total of 42,108 new foreign-invested firms were established across China in the first nine months of 2024, up 11.4 percent year on year. Notably, foreign direct investment inflows into medical equipment and instrument manufacturing surged 57.3 percent, while inflows into computer and office device manufacturing grew by 29.2 percent during this period.

Opening up to the outside world is not just a matter of "opening the door," but, more importantly, is actively aligning with international economic and trade regulations as well as other high-standard rules, said Zhang Bin, deputy director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Zhang underlined the need to enhance synergy between the domestic and international markets as well as resources to constantly cultivate and consolidate new advantages in international economic cooperation and competition.

CIIE to help LDCs access China market

Amid a tepid economic recovery globally, the China International Import Expo is leveraging its role as an international public good to better support least developed countries (LDCs) in accessing China's super-sized market and further integrating into the world economy, experts and executives said, the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce published on its website.

According to the latest data from the United Nations, as of 2023, there were a total of 45 least developed countries globally, of which 33 are in Africa.

The African product zone at this year's CIIE will be significantly expanded, providing a platform to highlight a variety of specialty agricultural products from the continent, such as shea butter, coffee, sesame, peanuts and soybeans, the ministry said.

The CIIE is just one component of China's broader initiative to support the world's least developed countries, especially those in Africa. In a recent announcement, China said that it would grant duty-free access to 100 percent of products originating from 33 African countries, further bolstering its commitment to advancing inclusive global growth.

The duty-free access pledge will dramatically improve the competitiveness of exports from these African countries, enabling them to penetrate the vast Chinese market more effectively and diversify their economic activities, said Wang Zhimin, a researcher at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies, which is part of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

The synergies between China's duty-free access pledge and initiatives such as the CIIE can have a truly transformative impact, empowering African countries to better integrate into global supply chains and drive sustainable economic progress, Wang added.

 ‘CIIE marks China's commitment to opening up’

The seventh China International Import Expo (CIIE) highlights China's commitment to global openness and willingness to engage in trade with countries worldwide, a Zambian economic expert has said.

Bernadette Deka-Zulu, founder of Shaping Futures Zambia, a non-governmental organization supporting youth involvement in policy, described China's move to embrace opening up as a significant step toward fostering a global environment conducive to free trade among nations.

"The CIIE has offered itself as a leading example to bring about different countries and companies representing various regions, and this is offering an openness. China is saying we are ready to trade with anyone, it also shows that China is open for business," she told Xinhua in an interview on Thursday.

She noted that the CIIE not only contributes to China's economic growth but also serves as a gateway for emerging economies to access an open market, allowing them to display their products and tap into China's demand for diverse commodities.

As a former executive director of the Policy Monitoring and Research Center, Deka-Zulu emphasized that the CIIE will also offer a valuable platform for China to learn from other nations and for other countries to observe China's industrialization progress.

She further emphasized that China's commitment to globalization through events like the CIIE has set a benchmark for global economic integration, ensuring equal participation for all countries regardless of economic size -- a move critical for enhancing global livelihoods.

In an era marked by protectionist policies, China's openness creates a strategic advantage for emerging economies in global trade, she said, praising China's zero-tariff policy for all least-developed countries with diplomatic relations, calling it a tangible example of its commitment to fair trade.

She expressed optimism that this initiative would boost exports and elevate economies in these countries.