Wang Bingnan, director of the CIIE Bureau and China's vice minister of commerce, speaks at the 3rd CIIE Enterprise Alliance in Shanghai, Nov. 5, 2020, held as a preview of next year's CIIE. (Photo: China.org.cn)

Twenty-nine additional exhibitors have reserved their booths to participate in the 4th China International Import Expo (CIIE) next year.

Besides the new 29 enterprise additions signed on Thursday at the Conference of the 3rd CIIE Enterprise Alliance, held as a preview of next year's event, nearly 100 exhibitors have already signed with the bureau to attend the expo over the next three years.

Wang Bingnan, director of the CIIE Bureau and China's vice minister of commerce, said at the conference that the early bookings are evidence of "recognition of the CIIE and confidence in the Chinese market."

An invitation published for the next year's expo says that the third CIIE demonstrated the Chinese government's commitment to opening up to the world, accelerating the resumption of global economic growth, promoting economic globalization, and building a shared future for mankind.

"Conveying the concepts of openness, inclusiveness, shared benefits, and win-win results, the CIIE has undoubtedly stimulated the world's economic development and also carries people's hope for world prosperity shared by all," states the notice.

A floor plan of the 4th CIIE was also released at the conference on Thursday. The business exhibition will have six major areas spanning food and agricultural products, automobiles, intelligent industries and information technology, consumer goods, medical equipment and health care products, and trade in services.

The intelligent industry and information technology exhibition will add special zones for digital transformation of industry and integrated circuits. There will also be a comprehensive experience venue in the energy conservation and environment-friendly special zone to showcase the most advanced environmental protection concepts in water purification, air purification, heat energy and comprehensive energy-saving, and environmental protection.

Meanwhile, the special zone for sports in the consumer goods section will be twice the size of this year's and expand its coverage to include enterprises throughout the industrial chain. A new pan-entertainment zone will display video games, sound equipment, and musical instruments.

According to the CIIE Bureau, the fourth edition of the CIIE will focus on serving the "new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other."

More new technologies and products from around the world will be introduced to the Chinese market to aid global economic recovery next year, the bureau said. The next CIIE will also introduce more new sections and themes. For instance, the medical equipment and health care products exhibition area will set up an innovation incubation section, while the public health section will be larger than what was exhibited this year.

The public health special zone in the medical equipment and health care products area, which was first established in the third CIIE, will include details of notable achievements in vaccine research, development, and production. It will highlight vaccine products and the upstream and downstream industry chain, 5G technology-based remote diagnosis and treatment products, as well as mobile and rapid detection equipment and technologies.

"We will go one step further in exploring cutting-edge technologies and products, as well as demonstrate care for people's livelihoods while promoting consumption, so that more featured exhibitions can promote the 'dual-circulation'," said Sun Chenghai, deputy director of the bureau and secretary-general of the CIIE Enterprise Alliance.

"We've benefited enormously from the value that the CIIE has created and witnessed first-hand the changes the CIIE has brought to Chinese consumers," said Fabrice Megarbane, president and CEO of L'Oreal China, just one of the companies to book another three years at the CIIE on Thursday. "Our confidence and commitment in the CIIE and China remain the same."

Initiated by exhibitors, the CIIE Enterprise Alliance was established during the first CIIE in 2018 as a platform for quality companies to cooperate, share information and resources, and contribute to promoting cooperation in trade between China and other countries. Since its inception in 2018, 156 companies from 23 countries and regions have joined the alliance.

Another notable announcement is that preferential tax policies launched for the third CIIE will also be offered at next year's event to exhibits that meet the tax-free category list after transactions are concluded.

The fourth expo will be held from Nov. 5 to 10, 2021.