SBF holds joint conference with organiser of China state-backed expo to encourage Singapore attendance

TO ENCOURAGE Singapore firms to attend a major state-backed trade fair in Shanghai later this year, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) held a conference with the event’s organiser on Tuesday (Apr 25), highlighting its business value.

This is the first such promotion conference for the annual China International Import Expo (CIIE), which aims to support trade liberalisation and economic globalisation by opening the Chinese market to the world.

SBF noted that with China’s reopening late last year, there has been renewed interest in the Chinese market, “with many new exhibitors looking to explore different forms of collaboration and business partnerships”.

The conference gave a preview of CIIE, which consists of business exhibitions and the Hongqiao International Economic Forum. In its sixth edition this year, CIIE will take place from Nov 5 to 10 at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre in Shanghai, spanning 360,000 square metres.

Companies can showcase their products and services at booths across six exhibition areas: food and agriculture; automobile; intelligent industry and information technology; consumer goods; medical equipment and healthcare products; and trade in services.

Roland Ng, first vice-chairman of SBF’s China and North Asia business group, noted strong participation from Singapore companies last year, despite the pandemic.

In 2022, the Singapore Pavilion at CIIE had 50 companies across three exhibition halls: trade in services; food and agricultural products; and consumer goods.

The total sales achieved by these Singapore exhibitors exceeded the previous year’s figure, he added. The known sales value was S$100 million, including on-site sales, sales under negotiation and sales expected in the following 12 months.

Among last year’s exhibitors from Singapore was music education software provider EE Music Tech. Founder Lydia Zheng said that the experience “exceeded her expectations”, allowing her to learn from and observe other key businesses in the industry.

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Along with partner company EdTech Plus, EE Music hopes to have a booth at this year’s exhibition in a new innovation incubation section for small and micro enterprises.

Liu Fu Xue, deputy director-general of the CIIE Bureau, said that China will continue to open up to the world. Speaking in Mandarin, he noted that China’s overall tariff level will be lowered further to 7.3 per cent in July.

China’s policies, market, environment and platforms will ensure CIIE’s success, noted Liu, adding that the event presents an opportunity for Singapore and China to achieve their economic goals together.

SBF has organised Singapore’s annual attendance since the event began in 2018.