Aerial photo taken on Nov. 1, 2019 shows a view of the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) where the second China International Import Expo (CIIE) is going to be held, in Shanghai, east China. Various preparatory work has been completed as CIIE will run from Nov. 5 to 10 in Shanghai. (Xinhua/Fan Jun)

 

Foreign companies at the second China International Import Expo (CIIE) praised China's pledge to open up further, the country's unremitting efforts in this regard and its improving business environment.

Delivering a speech at the opening ceremony, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the country will further ease market access for foreign investment and shorten its negative list.

China will continue to improve the business environment to make it more market-oriented, law-based and internationalized, Xi said.

"President Xi Jinping's speech at the opening ceremony showed the world China's determination to further open up its market," said Wang Hao, president of Siemens Healthineers in China.

"We're very glad to see the Chinese government's unremitting efforts to provide a friendly and vibrant business environment as well as great innovation capacity for foreign companies," Wang told the Global Times on Tuesday via email.

An increasingly open Chinese market will inject new energy into Germany's economy, and a closer China-Germany trade relationship will bring the two countries' complementary advantages in industrial structures into full play, Wang said. "This will bring more tangible benefits to companies and people of the two countries, while driving the global economy."

Singapore Business Federation Chairman Teo Siong Seng also told the Global Times via email that he was very glad to see China's commitment to expanding its drive for reform and opening-up, as well as its push for strengthened innovation cooperation and technological exchange.

"This will bring about new opportunities for enhanced economic and trade cooperation between Singapore and China. The Singaporean business community will continue to support China's regional development strategies by deepening collaborations between businesses from both sides," he said.

The second CIIE is more than just a platform to showcase Singapore's products and services, he said. It also serves as an important avenue for Singapore to facilitate third-party market collaboration between it and Chinese enterprises, to seize opportunities under the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" initiative.

During his speech, Xi also pledged that China would adopt five measures to promote higher-level opening-up: continuing to expand market opening-up, improving the framework of opening-up, optimizing business environment, deepening multilateral and bilateral cooperation, and jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative.

Liang Ming, a research fellow with an institute under the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, told the Global Times that China's opening-up will focus on further lowering commodity import tariffs, the opening-up of the services sector and cutting the negative list.

"I predict China will further lower commodity import tariffs in 2020," Liang said, noting that China has already lowered commodity import tariffs five times since 2018.