China's expo attracts over 250 Fortune 500 companies

To accommodate the increasing demand, the booth area for businesses will be expanded to 300,000 square metres

BEIJING: More than 250  500 companies and industry leaders have signed up for the second China International Import Expo (CIIE), the organiser said. To accommodate the increasing demand, the booth area for businesses at the 2nd CIIE, to be held in November, will be expanded to 300,000 square metres from 270,000 square metres last year, said Sun Chenghai, Vice Director of CIIE bureau.

More cutting-edge technologies will be featured at the expo, including VR and AR, self-driving cars, Internet of Things and the blockchain, according to Sun.

Hyundai Motor Group will bring its latest car models and components to this year's expo, said Lee Hyuk Joon, Vice President of Hyundai Motor Group (China) Limited, adding that the company's exhibition area more than doubled to 1,400 square metres.

British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) plans to introduce a batch of new medicines, including a shingles preventive vaccine, biologics for lupus erythematosus and treatment of stable COPD, sources with the company said.

A total of 172 countries, regions and international organisations and more than 3,600 enterprises participated in the first CIIE, held from November 5 to 10 in Shanghai. It was the world's first import-themed national-level expo.

This article originally appeared on the China Economic Net 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2019.

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