The food and agricultural exhibition sector of the third China International Import Expo (CIIE) Thursday issued its first business license and food business operation certificate to a New Zealand foreign enterprise in Shanghai - Aojing Trading Co., Ltd.

The CIIE kicked off in the finance metropolis Shanghai on Wednesday with President Xi making a speech to address the opening. The exposition will run through Nov. 10. Organizers see it as a major step for the nation to further open its market amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. 

Exhibiting Interest In China

Aojing Trading is a foreign investment enterprise set up by New Zealand Chinese and has participated in the last two CIIE in 2018 and 2019, as a visitor. Organizers said Aojing benefited from a shorter process for foreign enterprises to gain licenses this year.

It is the first time for the company to exhibit at CIIE. The newly issued licenses allow the company to showcase its products, a variety of New Zealand imported milk powder, health products and daily necessities, in the National Exhibition and Convention Center. Meanwhile, all of its products are sold at the Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub, which is only 2 kilometers from the exhibition venue.

"Seeing the first CIIE reached $57.83 billion in cumulative intended turnover made me and my partners stunned," the company representative Xu Zhujun told local media Shanghai Observer, "Since then, we decided to become an exhibitor at CIIE someday."

One of its products, Manuka Honey imported from New Zealand, for the first time, is packaged with QR codes to help Chinese customers trace product origin. In this effective "China special way", we hope to shorten distance between our products and Chinese consumers," said Xu.

"Spillover Effect"

Like Aojing Trading, during the period from November 2018 and October 2020, up to 221 foreign enterprises were newly established and registered in the Qingpu district of Shanghai, where the CIIE takes place annually. 

Analysts said this "Spillover Effect" is a part of CIIE's benefits to Shanghai and the Yangtze Delta Region. 

When preparing for the first CIIE, Shanghai government launched April 18, 2018 the so-called "6 day + 365 days" one-stop trading platform. Embedded within CIIE, the platform aims to support foreign enterprises to enter China's import market. It acts as a cross-border e-commerce platform as well as a professional trading platform.

As the first CIIE saw more than 20,000 types of products traded from nearly 800 exhibitors, the platform acted as the distribution center, sending imported goods from the Yangtze River Delta across the nation. 

The CIIE official website says the "6 day + 365 days" platform is in collaboration with Bank of China, China Construction Bank, The Export-Import Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, SPD Bank, SAIC Anji Logistics, China Pacific Insurance and Eastern Air Logistics.

The second CIIE, attended by nearly 1 million people from around China and 181 countries, reported $71.13 billion in intended deals, a 23% rise from the first expo. 

The Import Of Imports

It is estimated about 400,000 buyers will attend CIIE this year. Their visit will cover the six exhibition sectors including food and agriculture, auto, technology and equipment, service trading, public health and environment protection. Overseas participants had to undergo a 14-day quarantine before the exhibition. 

A few foreign retailer enterprise representatives told CCTV that due to a series of measures incorporating e-commerce and Foreign Investment Law, their companies have seen a promising prospect of online sales with more effective and convenient settlements.

China saw 41,000 new foreign enterprises established in 2019 with $141.23 billion in foreign investment in actual use, ranking the second in the world. During the period from January to September of this year, the foreign investment in actual use increased by 2.5% compared to one year ago, according to China's Department of Commerce. 

Additionally, China's foreign direct investment (FDI) accounts for 9.2% of global FDI, an increase from 6.6% in 2015.