The second China International Import Expo, which is set to be larger in scale and better in quality than its inaugural version last year, will inject new vitality and give impetus to China’s further reform and opening-up and its steps to widen market access, commerce ministry officials said on July 26.

“The purpose of holding the CIIE is not simply to increase imports, but to focus more on optimizing the import structure and giving companies access to more advanced technologies and ideas, while maintaining stable growth in exports,” said Wang Bingnan, vice-minister of commerce.

Wang made the remarks at a news conference for the 100-day countdown to this year’s CIIE, which will be held in Shanghai from Nov 5 to 10.

Wang said the CIIE will help improve market access in China and provide more channels for domestic enterprises to adopt advanced technologies, equipment and services and promote their development and industrial upgrading, while boosting high-quality development of China’s economy.

“Through the CIIE, we aim to build an international platform for high-quality consumption, expand imports of high-quality products and services, and offer more choices for Chinese consumers,” Wang said.

According to Wang, more than 3,000 foreign companies from over 150 countries and regions have confirmed their participation in the second CIIE. In addition, the number of newly launched products and technologies is expected to exceed those of last year.

Assistant Commerce Minister Ren Hongbin said the number of companies from United States that will participate in this year’s CIIE has surpassed that of last year, with their exhibition areas rising 35 percent. Over 170 US firms attended last year’s event, covering an area of 360,000 square meters.

“China is highly attractive to both domestic and overseas enterprises, including US enterprises, which attach great importance to and show great enthusiasm for the Chinese market, even if there is trade friction between the two sides,” Ren said.

President Xi Jinping said the CIIE is an important decision made by China to pursue a new round of high-level opening-up, and is China’s major initiative to widen market access for the rest of the world, during his keynote speech at last year’s CIIE.

The expo demonstrates China’s consistent position of supporting the multilateral trading system and promoting free trade, Xi said.

“The CIIE shows China pays attention to the balanced development of foreign trade, and serves as an important measure to meet the increasing consumption demand from the Chinese people,” said Wang Xiaosong, a professor of international trade at Renmin University of China’s School of Economics.

Wang said a moderate increase in imports will enable China to better integrate itself into the world production system and labor division, give full play to its comparative advantages and gain more benefits in trade.

The expo is the world’s first national-level expo dedicated to imports.