The 18th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) concluded in Xiamen city, Fujian province on Sept 11, after completing a variety of exhibitions, symposiums and project matchmakings over four days.

The Fair also caught much attention from the state and Party leaders. Vice Premier Wang Yang raised the golden key to announce the Fair's inauguration, inspected the venues and delivered a keynote speech at the International Investment Forum.

Somsavat Lengsavad, Lao's deputy Prime Minister, Wang Qinmin, Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairperson of All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and Chui Sai-on (R), chief executive of the Macao special administrative region took part in the Fair.

A total of 47 officials of above vice-ministerial level from government departments, national organizations, and commercial associations have participated in various events. The officials included Gao Hucheng, minister of Commerce, You Quan, Party secretary of Fujian province, Su Shulin, Fujian's governor, Bi Jingquan, vice-secretary-general of the State Council, Nuer Baikeli, chairman of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Wang Shouwen, Assistant Minister of Commerce, Sun Dawei, vice-minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and director of the Certification and Accreditation Administration, Zhuang Rongwen, deputy director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, Gong Qinggai, deputy director of Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, and Jiang Zenwei, secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Today, the global economy is undergoing deep adjustments, and China's economy is striding to a "New Normal" level. With the aim of "Sharing friendship, deepening cooperation, mutual benefits, and common development", the 18th CIFIT has built three major platforms of policy and information releasing, bilateral investment promotion and discussions on investment trends.

Through three patterns of exhibitions, forums and matchmakings, the Fair has staged a series of events to take its brand influence, effectiveness, professionalism and innovative capability to the next level.

The characteristics can be summarized as follows:

First, the Fair integrates national development strategies in its themes, highlights three aspects and builds a large platform for international multilateral and bilateral cooperation.

1. The construction of "One Belt and One Road", which refers to the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013 in a bid to build the world's longest economic corridor.

The Fair set up an exhibition zone for the new silk roads, attracting many countries along it to attend and showcase their investment opportunities, major programs and products. The list of the countries include the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Pakistan, Tanzania, Namibia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Vietnam, and so on.

Meanwhile, the Fair held a slew of symposiums themed the 21st Maritime Silk Road, exploring international cooperation in the fisheries industry, human capital as well as the financial sector, with experts and scholars sharing their valuable opinions on investment cooperation and development of countries and regions along the silk roads.

In addition, a special exchange meeting on the new silk roads was staged. Representatives from a number of countries and regions along the routes, including Malaysia (Country of Honor for the Fair), and Xinjiang (Province of Honor), participated at the meeting and weighed in on how to capitalize on the enormous business opportunities.

2. Construction of a China-CEE Countries cooperation platform. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEE Countries) signed the Bucharest Guideline in 2013, which unfolded a new prospect for the trade relationship between China and CEE Countries.

The Fair's exhibits, forums and connecting activities, themed "cooperation and prosperity", provided chances for CEE Countries to show investment conditions and promote national images and make the Fair an important China-CEE Countries cooperation platform. The CEE Countries exhibition area showed off special investment conditions, local customs and business climates for CEE Countries, including Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Bulgaria, etc.

Moreover, the Fair held a China-CEE Countries Investment Promotion Symposium and Promotion Event, in which China and 13 CEEC representatives explained their local general investment environment and investment policies, shared experiences in two-way investment cooperation to lay foundations for bilateral investment in the future.

Meanwhile, the Fair held a Contact Mechanism Meeting for the Investment Promotion Agencies of China-CEE Countries, which aimed to form a systematic, standard and long-term cooperation mechanism.

In addition, the Fair promoted investment matchmakings between CIFIT major enterprises and CEE Countries representatives and enterprises. The matchmakings focused on key fields, including infrastructure, energy construction, resource exploitation, information and the communication industry.

3. Sharing the new opportunities in transnational investment. Transnational corporations, and production organizers in the international economy, are the impetus and pioneers for accelerating the free flow of international capital, scientific technology and innovative ideas, and driving forward the global modernization process.

The Fair, the easiest and most efficient way to get to know and invest China, attracted some 150 executives and representatives from over 120 transnational enterprises. Wang Yang, Chinese Vice Premier, met with transnational enterprise representatives there.

The 18th CIFIT held a series of activities for transnational investment:

A transnational symposium, presided over by Gao Hucheng, Minister of Commerce, invited some 140 representatives from 65 transnational enterprises and commercial associations. The symposium strengthened the communication between transnational enterprises and Chinese government offices, including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration of Taxation, State Administration of Industry and Commerce, State Food and Drug Administration, and Intellectual Property Office. It clarified Chinese commercial opportunities and strengthened the transnational enterprises' confidence to invest in China.

Moreover, a report meeting development prospects for transnational enterprises in China was held at the Fair, where six such enterprises – namely Schneider Electric, Wal-Mart, ABB, Coca Cola, Yum and Toyota – shared their experiences of investing in China, and forecasting investment prospects in China, and showed their confidence of the Chinese market and expressed the wishes of mutual development along with China.

In addition, a series of matchmaking activities involving transnational corporations were held based on the needs of Fujian enterprises and other CIFIT members. The forms of those matchmaking activities included symposiums, matchmaking of (service) programs by transnational corporations and the matchmaking event of the 100-billion industrial chain of Xiamen and transnational corporations. They all helped deliver a deeper cooperation and communication between the transnational corporations and Fujian's enterprises.

Second, the Fair caught much attention from around the world, with a number of enterprises actively participating in and showing great international investment cooperation.

Today, modern economic entities gradually enter the phase of economic recovery, and there is new change in the flow of international capital. All countries are looking forward to new opportunities in economic and trade exchange, and investment cooperation. Under these circumstances, the 18th CIFIT drew eyes from around the globe and attracted a multitude of investors.

According to the Fair's organizing committee, as of 12 pm, September 11, a total of 670 delegations and 15,685 investors from 126 countries and regions took part in the Fair.

The number of important overseas attendees increases each year. This year, more than 40 high-rank government officials of ministerial level or above from 20 countries and regions attended the Fair. The list included Li Yong, Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Cai Jinyong, CEO of International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group's private investment arm, Michel Mordasini, Vice-President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Ghazi Abu Nahl, President of the World Trade Centre Association, Ong Ka Ting, Malaysian Prime Minister's Special Envoy to China, Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment of Cuba, Osman Mustafa Ismail, Sudan's Minister of Investment, Alexander Mora, Costa Rica's Foreign Trade Minister and Michael Bimha, Industry and Commerce Minister of Zimbabwe.

More than 150 executives and representatives from transnational corporations also made appearances at the Fair, such as Jeffrey A. Siebach, Vice-President of Legal and Corporate Affairs at Intel Corporation, David Brooks, President of Coca-Cola Greater China and Korea Business Unit, and Mike Horton, President of PPG Asia Pacific.

The 18th CIFIT has shown improvement in the quantity and quality of the participants.

More enterprises took part in the Fair, with over 4,000 domestic and foreign enterprises participating, including 120-plus transnational enterprises, 50-plus major central enterprises, and 800-plus large state-owned and private enterprises.

More emerging economies and economies from developed countries got involved in the Fair, including 61 delegations from state governments and commercial associations in the US. AmCham South China organized a delegation composed of 400-plus enterprises, more than half of which are American native enterprises. More than 120 delegations were from Europe, including Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy, among which there was a 100-delegate group organized by the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. And the BRICS countries – Russia, India, Brazil, South Africa – added 52 delegations, including a nearly-100 delegation from Russia.

More importance was attached to the core status of investors. More than 2,000 domestic and foreign investment organizations, one third of which are from overseas, took part in the connecting and communicating activities. Investors' focus was on the infrastructure, financial service, agriculture, equipment manufacturing and petrochemical industries. China-Europe Association for Technical and Economic Cooperation organized 50 enterprises with businesses ranging from information software to the communication electronics and manufacturing industry. The Chinese Environmental Alliance of Industrial Zones and the Economic and Cultural Advancement also sent representatives to the Fair.

Third, the Fair highlighted various themes, elevated its professionalism and paid more attention to attracting industry, all of which have contributed to comprehensively showcasing new investment and cooperation opportunities for different countries and regions around the world.

With an exhibition area of 100,000 square meters, the Fair includes 4,400 international-standard booths and is divided into an Investment Theme Pavilion and Industry Attraction Pavilion with 12 special exhibition areas, attracting nearly 1,600 enterprises to attend.

Its characteristics can be summarized as follows:

1. The exhibitions stick to various themes and have become more professional. The Investment Theme Pavilion has 1,700 exhibition booths and seven exhibition areas, namely the central exhibition area, exhibition area for provinces and autonomous regions, exhibition area for overseas countries and regions, exhibition area for culture and tourism development, area for Chinese overseas investment and cooperation, exhibition area for achievements by Chinese overseas educational background and exhibition area for development zones. The Industry Attraction Pavilion has 2,700 exhibition booths, and six exhibition areas for real estate, tourism, wine, tea, art investment and one providing a franchise chain service for small and medium-sized enterprises. The Fair has enhanced themes of investment in various areas, which provide convenience to connect exhibitors and clients.

2. The Fair pays more attention to regional investment cooperation and has become more international, as a total of 56 overseas countries and regions sent investment promotion organizations, associations and enterprises to the Fair, which all mark out an exhibition area of 12,000 square meters. Regional investment cooperation was stressed at the Overseas Pavilion, which consists of exhibition areas in the likes of Central and Eastern Europe cooperation, Sino-African investment cooperation, "Silk Road Economic Belt" cooperation and overseas cooperation, etc.

3. The Fair has held various kinds of activities in some special pavilions. As the Guest Country of Honor for the Fair, Malaysia held a series of events including a Malaysia investment attraction conference and a Malaysia-China Entrepreneur Conference in a 1200-square-meters exhibition area where it showcased its investment opportunities in medical care services, tourism and real estate as well as local culture and customs, attracting more than 500 famous entrepreneurs. Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Guest Province of Honor, got the biggest exhibition area of about 1,500 square meters. It has gained fruitful results in holding various activities such as an investment project negotiation. There are more than 100 famous Chinese state-owned and private enterprises participating in the Fair such as Air China, China CNR Corporation Limited, GAC Group, Jiangsu Yueda Group and Seven Group.

4. The Fair has established an on-site service mechanism and promoted energy-saving awareness in decorations of the booths. The service provider at the venue offered professional management and services through the Fair. At the same time, the Fair has also been advocating frugality in decoration, as it made suggestions and requirements on the materials and arrangement of some exhibitors. The two methods have greatly improved the overall service of the Fair.

Fourth, the Fair focused on hot spots for investments and published authoritative information on new trend of international investment.

The Fair held the 2014 International Investment Forum and 70 high-level thematic seminars on international investment. In all, 411 distinguished guests from 31 countries and regions took part in the Fair and gave speeches.

The characteristics of the Fair's subjects can be summarized below.

1. The International Investment Forum guides investment orientations. As one of the activities with most complete site arrangement and international influence, the Forum serves as a platform for politicians, business leaders and scholars from all over the world to have high-level interactions and communication.

Themed with "Opening up, Innovation, Win-Win: Development of Global Economic Zones", the Forum, jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, China Central Television (CCTV), and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), included one theme forum, four thematic forums, and one investment salon of committee of international investment experts.

Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Yang gave a keynote speech at the theme forum. And 67 distinguished guests such as Gao Hucheng, minister of the Ministry of Commerce, Huang Jiading, Malaysian prime minister's special envoy to China, Li Yong, director general of UNIDO, Cai Jinyong, chief executive officer of the International Finance Corporation, Luo Ming, editor-in-chief and deputy chief of CCTV, Li Daokui, director of the Center for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University, Yu Minhong, chairman of New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Hong Jiaxi, executive director of the Board of Directors of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and Shen Jin, vice-president of Qualcomm, also shared their opinions on the issues of the forums.

The discussed issues included "Development of Global Economic Zones", "Glorious Thirty Years, Embarking on A New Journey: China National Economic and Technical Development Zone", "A New Framework of Global Investment", and "Mobile Internet: Links Create Value".

Meanwhile, a further research and discussion was carried out at the forum on the zones' past 30 years of development experience as well as its economic prospects for the next 30 years.

New developing plans of building new modes of international economic cooperation and common development, constructing the 21st Maritime Silk Road, as well as developing zones to attract foreign investment, were put forward at the forums to promote international investment cooperation among countries, and boost world economic prosperity and stability.

2. Investment thematic forums released abundant information. Thirty-five thematic forums with hot investment topics were held at the Fair. The topics focused on business opportunities along the Silk Road and 21st Maritime Silk Road, cross-Straits economic and trade cooperation, finance leases, equity transactions, merger and acquisition, PE investment, and internet finance.

International organizations such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), UNIDO and World Trade Centers Association (WTCA), sponsored many thematic forums.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce and the Fair's organizers jointly held a string of themed forums on cross-Straits trade cooperation, financial leasing, international investment promotion, equity transaction, PE and venture capital.

In addition, the Fair's organizers, along with over 20 departments and agencies including the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and China Association of Private Equity (CAPE), held more than 10 forums for guests to have further communications and realize mutual benefits and cooperation.

The forums were themed: "13th World Business Leaders Round Table Forum", "2014 China (Xiamen) International Forum of Friendship Cities", "2014 International Cooperation and M & A Services Forum", "2014 Global Merger & Acquisition Forum", "China CFO Summit", "2014 Global PE Investment Trip and Summit of Fujian Businessmen", "2014 Internet Finance Summit", and "2014 China Major Business Chamber and Entrepreneurship Conference".

3. The Fair has become a stronger source for releasing policies and authoritative information on global investment.

A number of reports and information were released at the Fair, including the 2014 World Investment Report in Chinese and an English-version of Report on World Trade and Development by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Africa Investment Report by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), a working situation of foreign investment index in China, Bulletin of Statistics of the 2013 China's Foreign Direct Investment, Management Regulations of Overseas Investment and Management Regulations on Deposit for Risk of Foreign Labor Service Cooperation by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the 2014 Mid-term Review of Global Mergers and Acquisitions Market by PWC and the China Association of Private Equity.

In addition, government organs of over 20 foreign countries and regions, including the United States, Britain, Portugal, Indian and Denmark held promotional meetings on the investment environment. More than 20 provinces and municipalities including Guangdong, Ningxia and Tibet also held promotion meetings.

Fifth, the Fair integrated exhibitions, forums and matchmaking meetings, and served as a high efficiency platform for cooperation and negotiation.

With a customer-oriented strategy, the Fair gave priorities to investment projects, enterprises and customers. It integrated with exhibitions, forums and matchmaking meetings and promoted more than 32,000 effective investment projects, including close to 2,000 foreign investment projects, 11,300 of which are new projects this year.

The Fair paid more attention to its effectiveness and provided more opportunities for the global participants.

A total of 1,445 investment projects were signed during the Fair, with a total investment of 463.9 billion yuan, which included foreign investment of 220 billion yuan, investments in foreign countries of 23.6 billion yuan and investment from regional cooperation of 220.3 billion yuan.

The achievements made during the four-day Fair can be summarized as follows:

1. The Fair facilitated the connection of "bringing in" and "going out". Over 500 investment organizations from home and abroad and over 600 government organs participated in the "bringing in" matchmaking meetings, leading to the signing of some 6,000 projects. A US-based cancer treatment group reached an agreement with Chongqing Municipality on a 5-billion-yuan elderly-nursing project which will benefit 20,000 old people in Chongqing.

At the "going out" matchmaking meetings, investment organs from 24 overseas countries and regions set up 70 booths to connect with nearly 500 Chinese enterprises, reaching 35 agreements of intention on 35 projects with an accrued investment of 3.589 billion yuan. The Jiangxi China Coal Construction Group reached a preliminary cooperation agreement with Uganda on its aeromagnetic geological investigation and research project, with an estimated contract value of $18 million. Guangzhou Great Harvest Software Technological Co reached a cooperation agreement with the Cambodia Pearl River Investment Co, with a contract value of $9.9 million.

2. Integration of exhibition and business negotiation. Highlighting the integration of exhibitions and business negotiations, the Fair attracted 16 member units and over 20 member enterprises of foreign investment associations from Taiwan, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.

More than 400 enterprises, including China Power Investment Corp, Honda Construction Group Co, Golden Bridge Capital Co and Shenzhen Yaotai Electronics Co, were divided into 16 groups and carried out over 9,600 matchmaking activities. Another 2,600 matchmaking activities were arranged at temporary booths.

The Fair also featured a skills cooperation pavilion, the first of its kind in the Fair, which displayed the latest products from over 300 skilled professionals, launched over 400 skills matchmaking projects and announced some 300 high-end job vacancies.

3. Key industries matchmaking. The organization committee invited 500 investment firms to talk with member units and enterprises in 10 key industries, including new-generation communication technology, infrastructures and equipment manufacture. About 10,000 business negotiations were made, focusing on 4,000 investment projects.

4. Matchmaking symposia. More than 30 matchmaking symposia were held during the Fair, focusing on topics of Chinese students studying abroad, investment plans, mergers and acquisitions, Taiwan-funded enterprises, 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and Sino-African maritime economic cooperation.

In addition, a meeting themed "Investment Enterprises Talk with Governors and Mayors" received a warm welcome from many enterprises, with 43 matchmakings being held.

An experience area for CIFIT online was provided for merchants from home and abroad to offer them value-added services. During the Fair, more than 10,000 enterprise users registered on the platform and released over 30,000 pieces of information. The number of website hits topped 100,000 with over 1,000 matchmakings.

6. Roadshows. A total of six roadshows were carried out during the four-day event, attended by some 200 investors across the country, with 60 projects worth 2.5 billion yuan ($406.73 million). The roadshows were highly praised by member units.

Sixth, the Fair explored new areas for economic and trade cooperation among the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

The Fair focused on the new trend of industrial development and the new economic topics, and expanded the communication channel and enlarged investment fields between the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

The Fair this year has won great participation with many passionate participants from all walks of life in Taiwan. Some 4,280 Taiwan businessmen attend the Fair, which ranks first in the overseas clients. There are 85 Taiwan business and trade groups participating in the Fair, including Taiwan Chamber of Commerce, Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, Taiwan, Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufactures' Association, and the Council for Industrial and Commercial Development. Wang Yingjie, Director General of Taipei Chamber of Commerce, Xu Shubo, Chairman of Taiwanlife, Cai Linglan, Director General of Cross-Strait Association on Trade Exchanges, and Huang Rican, Director General of the Taiwan Merger & Acquisition and Private Equity Council, attended the Fair to discuss development plans for the future.

Overall, the Fair showed much about Taiwan.

1. All the specialized exhibition areas have booths for Taiwan's exhibitors. The 10th Strait Travel Fair firstly sets up a specialized area for showing rural tourism and tourism products of the Chinese mainland and Taiwan and the deepening cooperation of Cross-Straits tourism. The 6th China International Fair for Investment in Property specially set up the Taiwan Zone in order to open up the Taiwan property market.

2. A series of seminars themed on Taiwan were held during the Fair. The 9th Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Forum, sponsored by Ministry of Commerce and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, paid close attention to the cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan in the service industry. Additionally, many themed seminars on the new mode of rural tourism, human capital and art investment were held to promote the new ways of Cross-Strait cooperation.

3. The matchmaking meetings were efficiently held and boosted cross-Straits industrial connection. Some 20 Taiwan-invested enterprises discussed investment matters with their mainland counterparts. The county government of Jinmen county, Taiwan, signed a $1.96 million agricultural project with Mingyang Investment Co., Ltd. Taiwan Shunxing Tea Factory signed a $6 million project on a tea industry base. Other activities on rural tourism, human capital docking, and agricultural products have acquired favorable effect, which will promote the cooperation and docking in multi-fields and strengthen the economic and trade ties between the two sides.

Enterprises from Hong Kong and Macao also actively participated in the Fair. Hong Kong set up an exhibition area of 140 square meters, and held a "Hong Kong Pavilion Day", a seminar themed on opening up foreign markets, and a connecting meeting for Fujian and Hong Kong enterprises to cooperate in overseas investment and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). Macao also set up an exhibition area of 180 square meters to hold a promotion conference for Macao enterprises.

Seventh, a spirit of frugality, pragmatism, and branding grows at the Fair.

This year's fair has followed the central government's "Eight-point Rules" and has stuck to a principle of thrift and a spirit of frugality, pragmatism, less administration, and less formality compared to last year. And its' a more specialized fair, in every way, including booth fees, reception standards, and expenditures by the organizing committee.

The fair has some practical business exchange activities rather than large banquets and has focused on the theme of investment and trade, with simpler activities. It also has more low-key decorations and stricter controls on reception, meals, and accommodations and it is more market-oriented and professional in its events, making sure they're "solemn, low-key, and thrifty, but comprehensive".

To make certain that all activities are held in a safe, orderly manner, the city of Xiamen and Fujian province made every effort to guarantee security and logistics and have made special arrangements in security, transportation, accommodations, healthy eating, and urban appearance and the organizing committee has paid close attention to services, reception details, management of the exhibition hall, information, and news gathering.

This year's fair has attracted a great deal of attention and coverage by Chinese and overseas news media, with reporters from several hundred agencies covering it, including 40 from overseas, such as the Chinese Herald, UK Chinese Journal, Yomiuri Shimbun, China Africa Press Center, Minshang News, South Africa Chinese News, Taiwan Reports, Want Daily, United Daily News, ETTV, Phoenix TV, and Radio Macau. The major Chinese media include Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily, CCTV, CRI, Economic Daily, China Daily, and China News Service, and a number of portal sites as well, such as, people.com.cn, Xinhua, Sina.com, Tencent, Sohu, Phoenix Net, Hexun.com and Chinadaily.com.cn. Their attention to the gathering has greatly increased the influence of the fair, and one random report shows at least 16,000 articles on it appearing during the four-day period.

Over the past 18 years, CIFIT has followed an "International investment" principle with a "Bringing in, going out" approach that has greatly helped attract foreign investment and China's opening-up. And it is now a world renowned fair, one that provides a platform for economic and trade cooperation globally, and an important place for China to communicate with other countries concerning politics, diplomacy and society. The fair has followed China's development since its reforms and opening up of three decades ago, the rise of China's economy and society, and the convergence of international capital. So, let's look forward to greater cooperation and the future together and we'd like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our distinguished guests and friends for their lasting care and support. And, we sincerely hope to see you, our global friends, at the next fair in Xiamen, the Island of Egrets.