Consul General of Switzerland in Shanghai Olivier Zehnder

Editor's Note:

The Fourth China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10 as scheduled. Despite the difficulties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, global traders plan to gather at the annual event online and offline to showcase their products and services in fields such as healthcare, artificial intelligence (AI) and carbon neutrality, looking to boost their performance in the Chinese market.

The Global Times (GT) interviewed 15 foreign diplomats in Beijing and Shanghai about their engagement and expectations for this year's CIIE. Here is：

Olivier Zehnder
Consul General of Switzerland in Shanghai

GT: How does Switzerland plan to engage in the CIIE despite facing challenges from COVID-19?

Olivier Zehnder: I have been here in Shanghai since the first inception of this important conference. Each time we've had a large number of Swiss companies who distinguished themselves by the quality of the products or services they were presenting. I am looking forward to the upcoming CIIE. I think it will be the same. I encourage visitors to come and visit Swiss companies and Swiss booths. 

As usual, they can witness the commitment of Swiss sectors and Swiss companies toward innovation excellence. They will witness the commitment of our companies toward a long term relationship with China, also a commitment to sustainable development and energy efficiency. Last but not least, it's also a commitment to the creation of talents in China through the support of vocational training initiatives amongst others. I would really recommend visitors to come and visit our companies at the Swiss booths.

GT: What are your expectations for the upcoming CIIE?

Olivier Zehnder: I hope it's going to be successful. But I have already in mind the 5th CIIE in 2022. I sincerely hope that by then we will open the doors to foreign visitors. I think that was the initial purpose of the CIIE — if you want to give a new dynamism to this important conference now we should have more circulation of people and bring new ideas and new dynamism.