CIIE's spillover effects continue to grow

The spillover effects of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) have continued to grow since its inception in 2018, said Sha Hailin, head of the Shanghai Public Relations Association, at a forum on the spillover effects of the trade fair in Shanghai on Nov. 1, ahead of the fifth CIIE.

This photo taken on Nov. 2, 2022 shows the west entrance of the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the main venue for the upcoming fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE), in east China's Shanghai. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

Sha said the CIIE has fully leveraged its strengths in international procurement, investment promotion, cultural exchange as well as opening up and cooperation and effectively connected the market of China and the world, enabling exhibits to become traded goods and exhibitors to spot more investment opportunities. In the post-pandemic era, in particular, the once-a-year CIIE has injected impetus into global investment and trade, helped stabilize the supply, industrial and value chains, and helped the world economy return to the right track.

An index of the CIIE's spillover effects was released by a research group from the Shanghai Huaxia Economic Academy at the forum, showing that the increasing spillover effects facilitate China's high-quality economic development.

The growth rates of the spillover effects of the first and second CIIE on the host city Shanghai exceeded 10 percent, but data for the third CIIE slumped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while data from the fourth CIIE climbed up slowly.

The spillover effects on such aspects as trade promotion, upgrading of industry and consumption, and mechanism innovation continued to expand over the past four years, explained Li Qingjuan, chief expert of the research group. Li added that due to the pandemic, the spillover effects on investment may not be as consistent, and the spillover effects on economic and social development have not become very obvious yet.

Data shows that the cumulative turnover of the expo in the past four years since 2018 reached $272.27 billion.