China International Import Expo

[Video message]

His Excellency, Li Qiang, Premier of China

Your excellencies, Distinguished delegates:

This Expo, organized by the Ministry of Commmerce and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, is truly an important event. 

This Expo matters because it opens doors. 

For a coffee farmer in Ethiopia, a textile producer in Bangladesh, a small manufacturer in Senegal – access to China's vast market can transform not only their business but their lives. What you're doing here is replicating the insight that transformed China itself: the chance to grow, create jobs and enact development through trade. 

Alongside this Expo, the Hongqiao Forum provides an essential space to address the broader context of trade, growth, security, and multilateralism,  ensuring the global south as an essential voice shaping the global conversation.

When China opened up in 1978, access to global markets became the catalyst for lifting hundreds of millions from poverty. 

Export opportunities created jobs, built industries, and financed development. 

That's the power of market access. 

That's what trade can do.

Today, China is extending that same opportunity to others. 

Zero tariffs for exports from least developed countries with diplomatic relations with China are now a reality. 

The recent announcement of zero tariffs for African countries with diplomatic relations signals the same commitment. 

And this Expo is where those tariff reductions become real trade flows through the “Export to China” initiative launched here by the Ministry of Commerce, giving developing countries dedicated support to strengthen and sustain those exports relationships. 

This is where developing countries producers find Chinese buyers, where exporters secures long-term contracts, where market access becomes market entry. 

We in UNCTAD believe in a fair, rules-based trade system, one that gives predictability and stability to countries to diversify their productive structures, and to communities to participate in a dynamic global economy and thrive. 

There are still too many people in the world waiting for an opportunity to lift their families out of poverty and give their children a better future.  

The exhibitors here represent the productive potential of the developing world. 

Give them reliable access, and they'll do what exporters everywhere do – innovate, compete, and build businesses that lift their communities. 

As I said in this same Expo two years ago, in 2023: “China has proven that opening up is not just about removing trade barriers or encouraging investment; it is about opening minds to new ideas and hearts to cultural exchange. 

As President Xi has said, “Development is not a zero-sum game.”

UNCTAD stands ready to support developing countries as they build the capacities needed to benefit from expanded market access – wherever those opportunities arise. 

Thank you for demonstrating trade's power to create opportunity. I wish you successful matchmaking, lasting partnerships, and concrete outcomes that reach far beyond this hall.

I thank you.