China's economic momentum: ZGC Forum and Canton Fair highlights

The Zhongguancun Forum and the Canton Fair act as two windows, collectively revealing the positive momentum of China's economy, Xinhua reported on Sunday.

The 135th session of the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair which opened on April 15, gathered merchants from all corners of the world, showcasing the charm of Chinese manufacturing and igniting new vitality in trade.

The 2024 Zhongguancun Forum, which opened on April 25, attracted global tech elites and dreamers, sparking even more technological innovation.

From technology forums to economic and trade fairs, the overflowing popularity of the two events highlights China's attraction to the world.

The Zhongguancun Forum has attracted over 150 foreign government departments and international organizations from more than 100 countries and regions, as well as prestigious scientific luminaries.

Turning to the Canton Fair, both the scale of the exhibition and the number of exhibitors reached new highs: nearly 30,000 offline exhibitors and over 190,000 overseas buyers from 214 countries and regions attended, representing a growth of over 22 percent compared to the previous session.

Each exchange of business cards and every procurement order conveyed recognition of Chinese manufacturing, anticipation for the Chinese market, and confidence in the Chinese economy, according to an anonymous company executive.

From cutting-edge technologies to Chinese "smart" manufacturing, the development of new quality productive forces implies new opportunities for China.

This year's Canton Fair exhibitors include over 5,500 national-level high-tech enterprises, champions of manufacturing, and "little giant" firms, or novel and elite small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in a niche market, up 20 percent from the previous session.

At the Canton Fair, advanced Chinese manufacturing innovations were everywhere, including solar panel cleaning robots, window cleaning robots and pool cleaning robots. One could even see foreign visitors smoothly navigating the exhibition halls on domestically produced electric suitcases they just purchased.

"Innovation and development" is the perpetual theme of the Zhongguancun Forum. This year's theme of the annual meeting focused on "Innovation: Building a Better World," aiming to create a "meeting room" that connects global wisdom.

Both events brimmed with "scientific" content, demonstrating China's active signal in accelerating the cultivation of new quality productive forces and showcasing new opportunities brought about by Chinese innovation and development to the world.

From commodity trading to technology transactions, promoting exchanges, cooperation, and mutual benefit demonstrates China's determination to openness.

Since its inception in 1957, the Canton Fair, as China's longest and largest comprehensive international trade fair, has never ceased and has attracted over 9.3 million foreign visitors from 217 countries and regions.

Openness is reflected in numbers. This year's Canton Fair has hosted over 200 global supply and procurement matchmaking events, attracting over 340 buyers and over 1,000 suppliers to negotiate, with the intended procurement amount reaching approximately $250 million.

Established in 2007, the Zhongguancun Forum is a national-level platform for China's global technological innovation exchange and cooperation.

At this year's annual meeting, foreign keynote speakers accounted for over 50 percent; more than 6,000 innovative projects from over 40 countries and regions appeared at the international technology trading conference; and several dialogues on technology cooperation among global governments, institutions, and enterprises were held.

Openness is also reflected in the "personal" aspect. "Old friends" remain, and new friends are increasing. A German businessman told reporters that his family, spanning three generations, has attended the Canton Fair since his grandfather's time.

An entrepreneur who has attended the Zhongguancun Forum multiple times said that this year's forum is more international, injecting new vitality into global technological cooperation.

The Zhongguancun Forum and the Canton Fair, which continue to improve, showcase China's firm commitment and actions to expand high-level opening-up to the world by building a public platform for global exchange and cooperation.

Innovation leads the future, and openness co-creates prosperity. Imagine, that the innovation achievements of Zhongguancun today may become tomorrow's best-selling products, reaching the world through the platform of the Canton Fair; the broad international perspective of the Canton Fair brings more opportunities for industrial innovation driven by technological innovation.

The Canton Fair and the Zhongguancun Forum are vivid reflections of China's high-quality economic development and continue to demonstrate China's stable and positive economic trajectory, injecting more certainty into the world economy.