22nd CIFIT highlights nation's higher-level opening-up in trade

The 22nd China International Fair for Investment and Trade has shown the continuous efforts by the country to expand high-level opening-up to the world and boost the confidence of global investors.

With the theme of "Global Development: Sharing Digital Opportunities and Investing in Green Future", the fair brought its curtain down in Xiamen, Fujian province, on Sunday.

According to its organizers, this year's CIFIT saw more than 480 projects signed, with a total investment of 342 billion yuan ($49.55 billion). It attracted more than 800 trading groups, more than 4,000 businesses and about 60,000 merchants from more than 90 countries and regions who attended either online or offline events.

The four-day event provided participants from around the world with investment opportunities. It organized 41 major conferences, forums and seminars such as the International Investment Forum 2022 and the Gulangyu Forum, attracting business insiders and officials to share their insights on topics including digital technologies and green development. The organizers also held more than 50 activities for investment communication and project matchmaking.

Focusing on coordinated regional economic development and multilateral economic and trade exchanges, the fair held a series of high-level forums featuring international cooperation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, sustainable investment among the BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and the BRICS Partnership on the New Industrial Revolution.

These events aimed to promote further opening-up and deepen investment and trade cooperation among countries and regions, the organizers said.

In addition, an exhibition with a theme on rural vitalization made its debut during this year's CIFIT, highlighting core elements of projects, capital, talent and achievements in a bid to explore a way to facilitate the participation of social capital in rural vitalization and set up a high-quality and authoritative investment platform for this sector.

Moreover, the fair also set up an exhibition featuring investment in hot spot cities for the first time, which attracted 18 emerging cities and regions in China to demonstrate their development potential.

This fair also saw some of the latest reports released. They included China's Foreign Investment Guidelines 2022 and Report on Foreign Investment in China 2022.

Centering on industry trends of digital and green economies and the country's carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, the fair held a series of brand activities related to investment in China's emerging industries, international cooperation in low-carbon industries and overseas green development by several businesses.

Following the development of cutting-edge digital technologies, organizers introduced a series of online display activities, including a metaverse technology-based online exhibition, augmented reality shows and naked-eye 3D performances.

As of Sunday, the online platforms integrating the fair's official website, mini program and official account on WeChat and smartphone app had released information on more than 26,000 investment projects and held 88 events online, having tallied 13.5 million views.