The 8th China International Import Expo (CIIE) Promotion Event was held on March 25 in Ottawa, Canada's capital, by the Chinese Embassy in Canada. H.E. Wang Di, Chinese ambassador to Canada, attended the event and delivered a speech. Wu Zhengping, deputy director-general of the CIIE Bureau, delivered a video speech. The event was attended by representatives from Canada who seek to access the Chinese market through CIIE and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with China.

H.E. Ambassador Wang Di encourages Canadian companies to keep up their strong participation in the 8th CIIE. He stated that economic and trade cooperation is a key component to China-Canada bilateral relations and an important engine for promoting the healthy and stable development of China-Canada relations. Even during the setbacks in bilateral relations over the past few years, economic and trade cooperation has played a stabilizing role. This is because the nature of China-Canada economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial and win-win, driven by the needs of both countries' development and the well-being of their citizens.

Wu Zhengping, deputy director-general of the CIIE Bureau, said that CIIE has been held seven times since 2018 and has attracted participation from more than 180 countries, regions and international organizations. We are committed to making CIIE a key platform for global trade, investment promotion, people-to-people exchanges, and open cooperation.

Wu said that China will open its door wider to the world. The mandate of the CIIE Bureau on its annual industry gathering is to make progress steadily through continuous improvement. Nearly 240,000 square meters of exhibition area for the corporate pavilions has been booked, accounting for around two thirds of the total planned space. This reflects the strong confidence from all sides in China's economy and CIIE. The 8th CIIE will be more "C.I.I.E". To be specific, more comprehensive: The exhibition area remains at 360,000 square meters, highlighting frontier sections. More interactive: There will be more interactive spaces for business and government engagement and an environment for more collaboration. More inclusive: there will be more support for SMEs with more presence of startups in digital economy, green and low-carbon sectors. More effective: There will be more powerful buyers from both upstream and downstream of the industrial chains and more precise business matching. The 8th Hongqiao International Economic Forum, held back-to-back with CIIE, will focus on the new landscape and emerging challenges of the world economy, and will set the topics on revitalizing multilateral cooperation, digital and intelligent empowerment, etc. Insightful individuals from Canada are encouraged to join the Forum.

Wu said that China and Canada are highly complementary in economic structures. China has remained Canada's second-largest trading partner for many years. Canadian companies are active players at CIIE, with the past seven CIIE events seeing Canadian companies participating more than 460 times. Last year saw a record high of 89 Canadian companies participating. Canadian brands including Lululemon are using CIIE to increase their visibility and market share in China.

Representatives from various sectors in Canada celebrated China's contribution to stabilizing recovery efforts with the global economic. They look forward to the 8th CIIE, which will provide new opportunities for deepening economic and trade cooperation between the Canadian business community and China.

The event was attended by delegates from the Canadian business community, scholars and media, including Shamali Gupta, deputy director of the Northeast Asia Bureau of the global affairs department, Graham Shantz, president of the Canada China Trade Council, and heads of the Canadian Meat Council, Fisheries Association and Rapeseed Association.