The first China International Import Expo is held in Shanghai from Nov 5 to 10, 2018. [Photo/IC]

East China's Zhejiang province was one of the country's biggest purchasers at the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai last November with a turnover of over $10 billion, officials announced at a meeting in Hangzhou on Jan 23.

The CIIE is a first-rate international import expo combining country exhibitions, company exhibitions and forums under various themes. During the event, more than 15,000 companies and 40,000 people from Zhejiang participated in the purchasing activities, and the amount and the value of the deals made between the province and foreign exhibitors ranked highly in terms of the domestic provinces.

In particular, Zhejiang showed strong purchasing power in intelligent and high-end equipment, medical consumables, and medical apparatus and instruments.

At the same time, the e-commerce platforms from the East China province brought excellent results during the first edition of CIIE.

Alibaba Group released a five-year plan on the sidelines of the exposition and established a goal of achieving a value of $200 billion in imports within half a decade. NetEase Kaola, another leading Chinese cross-border portal based in Zhejiang, reached cooperative agreements with 110 overseas companies during the event.

The CIIE also provided a great opportunity for the province to expand its "circle of friends", according to the summary meeting. Institutions and companies from Zhejiang attended a few promotional activities of foreign countries including Croatia and Vietnam at the exposition, and the province itself organized over 20 activities to promote matchmaking between Zhejiang companies and their potential international partners.