The “China International Import Expo” (CIIE) was announced by the Chinese President Xi Jinping in May 2017 during the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, and it has been active since 2018.

The 1st edition of the CIIE has been held in Shanghai from November 5th to November 10th, 2018 and it had a great success that brought together thousands of Chinese buyers with foreign companies.

Many high-profile leaders and entrepreneurs attended the event such as Alibaba’s Jack Ma and Microsoft’s Bill Gates.

It had over 1 million attendees from 172 countries and regions, 7 exhibition sections with an area of 270,000 square meters, 3,617 companies and the amount of deals reached USD 57.83 billion.

The CIIE aim of the Expo has reached in full: to promote China as an open and free market. 

Moreover, the upcoming 2nd edition will be significant for Italy, because it has been named guest country of honor.

The products "Made in Italy" may help Chinese industrial associations and consumers to gain a better understanding about the quality of Italian products.

This may led to further expansion of Italy's exports in China and to promote the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties in 2020.

This year CIIE will play a bigger role in promoting a high level of opening-up and high quality of foreign trade compared to the last year.

The main focus of 2019 exhibition will be in the following fields: automotive, manufacturing equipment, food and agriculture, medical equipment and consumer goods.