The CIFIT logo is seen at terminals of the Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport in preparation for the upcoming 21st China International Fair for Investment and Trade that will be held in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province, from Sept 8 to 11. [Photo/chinafair.org.cn]

The 21st China International Fair for Investment and Trade, or 21st CIFIT, is set to take place in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province from Sept 8 to 11, guiding global investment promotion and global wealth flow.

With a theme of "new international investment opportunities under the new development pattern", the 21st CIFIT will showcase achievements in digital economy, artificial intelligence, and new energy in its nearly 110,000-square-meter exhibition area.

More than 30 project match-making meetings will be held during the event for the 16,000 investment projects collected by the 21st CIFIT and more than 200 investment institutions will be invited to attend these meetings.

Among these collected projects, nearly 1,000 are expected to stage roadshows during the fair.

This year's edition will be more international by inviting countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), as well as by cooperating with international organizations. More professional institutions will be invited to improve the professionalization.

Online exhibitions, project match-making meetings, and negotiations will also be organized.

The 21st CIFIT will further highlight brand building, as well as strengthen its two-way investment promotion, authoritative information release, and investment trend discussion functions to cultivate more high-quality activities.

The event will showcase the enabling power of digital technology and data resources on investment promotion by offering year-round project exhibition and cross-regional negotiation services.

High-level international investment promotion event

CIFIT has been held for 20 years in a row. The event is a professional exhibition in the field of investment and one of the national key exhibitions sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce.

After more than 20 years of development, CIFIT has grown into an international exhibition event with global clout.

"This year marks the first year of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and this year's CIFIT will be of great significance to promoting the dual-circulation development pattern," said Wang Shouwen, vice-minister of commerce, at this year's CIFIT press conference.

This year's event will actively integrate into national development strategies, focus on exchanges and cooperation in international investment, as well as promote the integration of the BRI, the BRICS Partnership on the New Industrial Revolution, and the RCEP.

A series of activities, including the 2021 Silk Road Maritime Transportation International Cooperation Forum, will be held to promote multilateral and bilateral practical cooperation.

Focusing on digital economy, green and low-carbon development, as well as other pressing global topics, this year's CIFIT will organize relevant forums, including the China International Green Innovation Development Conference, and the International Industrial Internet Conference, which are expected to serve as a platform for projects, technology, capital, governments, enterprises, and financial institutions to communicate with each other.

In addition, the fair will showcase development trends in digital economy, artificial intelligence, green economy, carbon neutrality, and industrial internet, as well as the achievements made by key industries.

Nearly 10,000 high-quality products will be on display, with Fortune Global 500 companies like Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Philips, Embraer, JBS, Huawei, and Genertec participating.

The Ministry of Commerce and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development will release authoritative reports during the fair, including the 14th Five-Year Plan for Utilization of Foreign Investment, the Report on Development of Chinese-funded Enterprises in Different Countries, and the World Investment Report 2021 (Chinese version).

Wang said that this year's CIFIT will release information about investment in China, promote the construction of a new development pattern, as well as boost the recovery and growth of the global economy.

High-quality international investment and trade pioneer

From being one of the five trading ports in China 100 years ago to being one of the earliest special economic zones in the country, Xiamen has always been a window for China to open to the outside world, playing an important role in the history of the country's opening up.

Over the past 41 years, the city has taken an initiative to integrate into the global economy and implemented an open strategy producing mutually beneficial results.

As a result, an all-around, wide-ranging, and multilevel pattern of opening up to the outside world has taken shape in Xiamen. The city includes special economic zones, Taiwan investment areas, export processing zones, bonded zones, pilot comprehensive reform zones, and free trade pilot zones. Xiamen itself is a pivot city involved in the BRI.

Thanks to CIFIT, Xiamen has gained a broader international vision, open concept, and development opportunities, which further prompted the city to build a new pattern of opening up, as well as promote the high-quality development of its export-oriented economy.

Xiamen gained fruitful results at the 20th CIFIT in 2018. "Xiamen's securing of many key projects reflects the vitality of CIFIT, as well as the approval of investors of the investment environment in China and Xiamen," sad Dai Lesheng, deputy director of the Xiamen commerce bureau. "It will promote Xiamen's construction of a high-quality innovation and entrepreneurial city, as well as an international garden city."

In the first seven months of the year, there were 72 overseas investment projects in Xiamen and the city's contracted investment value totaled $2.43 billion, higher than the same period last year.

Statistics from Xiamen Customs show that in July, the monthly import and export value in Xiamen exceeded 80 billion yuan ($12.39 billion) for the first time to 81.29 billion yuan, with a record year-on-year increase of 30.1 percent.

Since June of last year, the city's foreign trade value has maintained year-on-year growth for 14 consecutive months.

To create a market-oriented, law-based, and first-class international business environment, the Regulations on Optimizing the Business Environment of Xiamen Special Economic Zone (Draft) has been submitted to the 45th session of the 15th Xiamen Municipal People's Congress for deliberation.

The draft proposes that Xiamen Business Environment Day should be established on Sept 8 to promote a more open and inclusive, mutually beneficial, cooperative, honest, and business-friendly social atmosphere in the city.