The press conference for the preparation of the 12th China Expo Forum for International Cooperation (CEFCO 2016) was held by the CCPIT on December 22. Mr. Lin Shunjie, Director-General of the Trade and Investment Promotion Department of the CCPIT, and Mr. Zhang Liwei, Deputy Director of Ningxia Expo Bureau and Vice Chairman of the CCPIT Ningxia Sub-council, introduced relative information of the forum. Mr. Feng Yaoxiang, CCPIT spokesman and Director General of the Development Research Department, chaired the conference. Reporters from over 20 media including Xinhua News Agency, China News Agency, CNR and China Daily were present.
Lin Shunjie introduced the general situation of the forum. He said, with the approval of the State Council, the forum will be co-sponsored by the CCPIT, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry(UFI), International Association of Exhibitions and Events(IAEE) and Society Of Independent Show Organizers(SISO), and held by China Chamber of International Commerce during January 13 to 15, 2016 in Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The forum is an annual event with highest level, largest scale and highest degree of internationalization. By then, over 600 representatives from domestic and foreign exhibition industry and business associations will gather to exchange ideas, build consensus, promote cooperation and lead the future.
Known as "barometer" and "wind vane" of economic development, exhibition industry is closely related to industrial economy and regional economy. Themed on “New economic fulcrum, new exhibition beginning”, the forum aims to help the exhibition industry to grasp the growth tendency of key industries and seize market opportunities in key areas, seeking new fulcrums for industries and regional economy via exhibitions, and inject impetus into the exhibition industry while serving the overall national economic development.
It is reported that the forum participants are more diverse than before while topics for discussion more closely centered on the service for overall economy. In addition to domestic and foreign representatives in the exhibition industry, exhibition leaders, domestic exhibition experts and scholars, and officials from national exhibition authorities, representatives from business associations of relative countries are also invited to the forum, with the hope of building a platform for people in the exhibition industry to understand more of the needs and trends of the international market.
The forum will focus on discussions of “counter measures for global economic situation and exhibition industry", “new exhibition opportunities in emerging markets”, “growth of exhibition and cities”, “innovative development of the exhibition industry in the post-internet era", “success of overseas brand exhibitions”, and “large-scale, specialization and internationalization: choice of exhibitions projects’ transformation and upgrading”. It includes three plenary sessions, four parallel sessions, and supporting activities like seminars, local and overseas project promotions.
During the forum, the CCPIT will continue to release China's Exhibition Economy Development Report. Based on data of above-scale exhibitions of 145 Chinese cities and overseas exhibitions, as well as field research, the report will analyze the new model and achievements of the exhibition industry, offer a panoramic view of the development trend of China's exhibition industry in 2015 and provide reference for strategic planning and market layout of the industry.
Zhang Liwei briefed the implementation of the national strategy “opening up to the west” of Ningxia and its positive development of exhibition economy. He said, since 2010, three China-Arab States Economic and Trade forums and two China-Arab States Expos have been held in Ningxia with high standard and high level, which have not only injected innovation into the building of inland open economy pilot area, but also successfully established the economic and cultural exchange platform for China and Arab states, as well as promoted the vigorous development of exhibition economy in Ningxia.
93 exhibitions and forums were held in the region in 2015, achieving economic benefit of nearly 20 billion yuan and significant increase in the proportion of the region's economic structure. Led by the China-Arab States Expo, local brand exhibitions like China (Ningxia) Non-public Economic Cooperation Forum and China-Arab States Auto Cooperation Forum have received positive response at home and abroad and also signal the leapfrogging of Ningxia’s exhibition industry to the path of specialization, marketization and internationalization.
Lin and Zhang then answered questions of the reporters about Ningxia’s advantages for the forum, preparations for forum, the public service of the CCPIT in exhibition field, cooperation between exhibition industry and e-commerce.