The business exhibition area of the CIIE in Shanghai [Photo/ciie.org]

The 3rd China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be held from Nov 5-10 in Shanghai as scheduled despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the organizer.

As the global economy suffers from the pandemic, CIIE, the world's first import-themed national expo, will bring about new opportunities for companies around the world.

This year, the total planned exhibition area is 360,000 square meters, an increase of 20 percent over the previous expo, and the average exhibition area for Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders participating in the expo will rise by 14 percent over last year, according to Sun Chenghai, deputy director of the CIIE Bureau.

Sun said the higher demand for display areas shows increasing confidence in the expo and the Chinese market.

German welding technology company CLOOS has decided to expand its exhibition area from 60 to 100 square meters. The company's technical and sales director in Asia said that China is its largest market outside Germany and that the second CIIE proved highly beneficial for the company.

Consumer goods, healthcare, and service trade are the most popular exhibition areas, and four new sections, namely public health and epidemic control, new energy and environment protection, smart transportation, and sports, have also been introduced.

The public health and epidemic control section boasts an area of more than 10,000 square meters. It will display products such as the extracorporeal embrane oxygenators, ventilators, test kits, and medical imaging equipment. In addition to promoting new products for global epidemic control, related activities will also be held to discuss the field's development trajectory.

The 3rd CIIE will also serve as a platform for new product releases. The US-based Varian Medical Systems Company, for example, will hold the Asia-Pacific debut of its high-end linear accelerator featuring the optical body surface imaging intelligent monitoring system, as well as the Chinese debut of its drug-loaded microspheres used in liver cancer interventional chemoembolization, arteriovenous malformations, and hemangioma.