The China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT), held annually for more than 30 years in Xiamen, Fujian Province in southeast China, to promote two-way trade and investment between Chinese and foreign companies, will be both online and offline this year, from September 8 to 11, against the backdrop of COVID-19 prevention and control.

Online debut

By logging on to CIFIT's official website, its newly created app or WeChat applet, visitors anywhere in the world will be able to exchange business cards with anyone they want in the cloud exhibition hall, a hi-tech platform supported by 3D and virtual reality (VR) technologies, and obtain information on the investment environment, policies and guidelines.

If investors and the managers of the projects they are interested in want to negotiate, meeting rooms are available online for private discussions with supporting services such as online presentations, video calls and online translation. Even minutes of the meeting can be provided, along with data analysis and legal consultation. If an investment deal is clinched, the contract can be signed online with technical support.

CIFIT already has a customer relationship management system where the information shared by its users will be collected to build a database to improve analysis. It is an ideal tool to attract and promote investment.

On April 13, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issued a guideline, encouraging exhibition organizers to innovate their service models and cultivate new growth drivers so that the exhibition industry can play a role in expanding China's opening up, increasing employment and stimulating consumption. The guideline also urged the industry to accelerate its own transformation.

CIFIT's cloud fair is a critical step in the exhibition industry's transformation. "The dual-track way of holding the exhibition both online and offline will enable precise two-way flow between exhibitors and merchants, which is conducive to creating a permanent platform for global investment," Chen Haoying, Deputy Director General of Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Commerce and Director General of Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Convention and Exhibition Affairs, said.

The new approach, he added, will play an important role in providing normalized and digitalized services to participants, improve global investment confidence, and promote an open world economy.

To build the cloud infrastructure, the CIFIT Committee collaborated with the Alibaba Group, a pioneer in new infrastructure such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, cloud computing and cloud exhibitions.

It is win-win cooperation for Alibaba too as the company is exploring the huge blue-ocean opportunity in investing in online exhibitions.

The cloud CIFIT this year will cover more than 40 countries and regions. New technologies and marketing methods such as 5G, 3D, VR, live-streaming and short videos will be used. The e-fair will have five scenarios.

The committee said the cloud CIFIT aspires to build "a cloud reception room for investors to learn about investment projects and have discussions, and to provide cloud technics to conduct screen-to-screen matchmaking talks and investment deals." It is also bringing to the table its expertise in efficiently linking up governments, investors, projects and capitals.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first half (H1) of this year, the added value of the information transmission, software and information technology service industries increased by 14.5 percent year on year. The pandemic has accelerated the development of new growth drivers and new models, and empowered by digital technologies, online gaming, videos, telecommuting and Internet platforms have become major drivers of economic growth.

Role of real fair

"However, virtual space can never replace face-to-face interaction," Chen Xianjin, a senior executive of the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association, wrote in an article in April.

He also pointed out that physical convention and exhibition projects require market research, planning, inviting exhibitors, designing and operation, all of which needs the support of an array of industries, from logistics, finance and insurance to transportation, advertisement and media. A host of small and medium-sized enterprises, which are of economic and social importance, depend on the physical exhibitions for their survival.

Keeping this in mind, CIFIT has retained its offline model as well and its integration with the online model will increase its business value. The offline fair can gather the whole industrial chain together, introduce exhibitors and investors online, and form an ecosystem for the industry and an economic circle.

Since this year the principle is to seek advancement while ensuring stability, the scale of CIFIT has been reduced to 110,000 square meters. The number of forums has also been streamlined to a keynote International Investment Forum 2020 and nine more sub-forums.

The participants are mainly from international organizations, foreign government offices in China, foreign embassies and consulates in China, domestic government agencies and business associations and enterprises.

This year, the theme of CIFIT is introducing foreign direct investment (FDI) and going global. Besides the International Investment Forum 2020, there will be thematic forums on bilateral investment promotion, policy and information release, and hot investment topics. New infrastructure and investment to stabilize foreign trade and investment and stimulate consumption are other important topics.

Investment projects will be given top priority by increasing their exposure. The fair will present 30,000 investment projects from around the world.

"A keyword of this year's CIFIT is effectiveness," Chen Haoying said. To ensure that, there will be extensive matchmaking between investors and enterprises with more than 1,000 matchmaking sessions as well as over 300 business-to-business meetings.

Post-epidemic exhibition

With the pandemic affecting more than 100 countries and regions, there is great impact on cross-border investment and FDI, according to Ye Wei, deputy head of the Department of Foreign Investment Administration, MOFCOM.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development had assessed that if the pandemic could be controlled by H1, global FDI would decline by 5 percent. If it lasts the whole year, global FDI would drop by 15 percent.

Keeping this scenario in mind, the Chinese Government is focusing on ensuring stability on six fronts and security in six areas, as outlined in the government work report this year. The six fronts are employment, finance, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment and market expectations; the six areas are job security, basic living needs, operations of market entities, food and energy security, stable industrial and supply chains, and normal functioning of primary-level governments.

This year's CIFIT will follow that spirit by promoting investment in the new economy, new business models, new infrastructure and the digital economy. Fintech innovation and sharing the latest technologies, products, new trends in the new economy as well as new investment ideas amid the pandemic will also be promoted.

Given the current international situation, Xiamen believes it is important to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and plan for events like the Maritime Silk Road Exhibition and the Belt and Road Development High Caliber Forum.

The fair will have a 500-square-meter Maritime Silk Road Countries' Pavilion to showcase and strengthen Fujian's role as a core area of the Maritime Silk Road and Xiamen's importance as a signature city.

Chen Xianjin said while COVID-19 has impacted lives and the global economy, which is expected to change the world order, there are multiple other factors as well. They include the international political and economic scenario, globalization, Sino-U.S. relations and the widening gap between the real and virtual economies.

In the same way, for the convention and exhibition industry, though COVID-19 seems to be the reason hindering its development, there are other factors too, such as the value of exhibitions, government-enterprise relations, the supply chain of companies and the talent structure. Therefore, the epidemic is actually an opportunity for the industry to reflect on its development, he said.

(Print Edition Title: Twin-Track Strategy )

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

Comments to zhangshsh@bjreview.com