(Yicai Global) Nov. 11 -- With the annual China International Import Expo having successfully concluded in Shanghai yesterday, overseas exhibitors such as German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim and US tech and manufacturing conglomerate Honeywell have already signed up for the sixth CIIE scheduled for next November.

Boehringer Ingelheim, which has taken part in the CIIE four times, confirmed it will be back again next year. Thanks to the expo, the German drugmaker clinched a number of business deals, and has accelerated the development of products and projects because of the CIIE’s spillover effects, according to Felix Gutsche, president and chief executive of Boehringer Ingelheim China.

“We look forward to continuing to seize the important opportunities in the Chinese market through the CIIE and speed up the introduction of more innovative products and solutions,” Gutsche said.

The fifth CIIE closed with a record USD73.5 billion worth of tentative deals done, an increase of 3.9 percent on last year’s event, Sun Chenghai, the organizer’s deputy director said at a press conference yesterday. Over 2,800 companies from 127 countries and regions took part, including 284 of the world’s top 500 firms, more than last year, he said.

“The recruitment of companies to take part in the sixth CIIE has been fully launched,” Sun said. “The exhibition area signed by enterprises has already exceeded 100,000 square meters.

Honeywell has participated in the CIIE every year and has also registered to attend next year’s event. At this year’s expo, Honeywell showcased a series of innovative technologies and solutions and signed contracts with more than a dozen Chinese firms on sustainability, smart manufacturing, life sciences, and intelligent buildings.

The CIIE has become Ernst & Young’s preferred platform for its global and China debuts of products, technologies, and services, Bi Shunjie, head of the global professional services firm’s China business, told Yicai Global.

That not only shows that the CIIE can build an open platform and drive trade enhancing the efficient linkage of domestic and overseas resources but also reflects China’s sincere desire to share market opportunities with the rest of the world and promote global economic recovery, Bi added.

“The CIIE provides excellent opportunities for companies from all over the world to find market opportunities and win orders,” he said.

With the acceleration of the transformation of exhibits into commodities, the CIIE, a new international platform for opening-up and cooperative and reciprocal development, has also become a catalyst for multinational enterprises to further realize ‘the shift from exhibitors to investors.’

China is still one of the largest markets worldwide, and all of its segments are competitive and worthy of continuous investment by global companies, Zhang Haitao, managing director of Texas Instruments China, told Yicai Global.

The US semiconductor firm will remain focused on its long-term Chinese investment strategy and continuously improve the local integrated support system, Zhang noted.

Editor: Futura Costaglione