China's advanced manufacturing is one of the primary focuses of the first phase of the on-going 136th China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, with buyers from around the world looking for the latest products developed by Chinese innovators.
The 136th session of the fair kicked off on Tuesday in south China's Guangzhou City, with a record number of exhibitors exceeding 30,000.
Themed "Serving high-quality development, promoting high-level opening-up," this edition of the fair is showcasing 1.15 million new products, 241 of the world's top 250 retailers and leading multinational corporations in attendance.
Many new Chinese companies, products and technologies are making their debut in front of nearly 150,000 overseas buyers from over 200 countries and regions.
Thousands of buyers have made it a top priority to visit the main exhibition area for automation and intelligent manufacturing equipment.
"Our boss has his own factory in Russia. That's why he's looking maybe for some new machineries. He says that the quality of Chinese machineries are quite good. Sometimes we buy machinery from here," said Nikita Efremov, company representative of Russian firm Euro-lift.
"I come from Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, and I'm looking for machinery for packaging, paper packaging. That's why I'm here. I'm very happy to be here because I can see everything is amazing. China products are competitive in terms of price, in terms of quality, and in terms of good suppliers, you have good suppliers here," said Edith Sika, director general of Sparkline, an Ivorian company founded in 2012.
After visiting the fair, many global buyers say they have been impressed by China's progress in technology and production.
"For the last 10 years, China is different. Now it’s 2024, witnessing the most advanced and developed technology in China and over the world. I can see in the Canton, many people coming from everywhere in the world over all the world. And everyone is looking for the China technology and China production line, China products. This shows that China has had a lot of progress in this term,” said Yousif Algabri, managing director of Medeast Instruments, a company specializing in medical equipment for hospitals, clinics and medical colleges.
Covering a total exhibition area of 1.55 million square meters, the fair will be held in three phases between Oct. 15 and Nov. 4, with the first phase lasting five days.
Launched in 1957, the Canton Fair is the country's oldest and largest trade fair. Held every spring and autumn in Guangzhou, it is seen as a significant barometer of China's foreign trade.
China's advanced manufacturing takes center stage at Canton Fair
The China-Europe Talent Forum 2024 was held in Beijing on Tuesday to explore the key roles of talents in the development of China-Europe relations and further deepen bilateral exchanges and cooperation in relevant fields.
Themed "Sharing Together, Growing Together, Winning Together - Bridging Continents: Fostering Future-fit Talent Development," the forum gathered more than 240 attendees including Chinese and foreign dignitaries, renowned scholars, representatives of international organizations, Nobel laureates, academicians and experts.
Featuring keynote speeches, symposiums and summit dialogues, the event discussed topics covering science and technology, talents, culture, economy and trade, as well as international sports, aiming to further promote practical cooperation in the field of human resources between China and Europe.
"I think the development in China, the development of everything, especially in talent, is very big in the last years. We need to link each other to get more relationship between Europe and China because we have to share the talent. We have to get more relationship between Europe and China in products, in services, and especially in talent, in knowledge, in future, in intelligence," said Antonio Miguel Carmona, president of the Spanish Friends of China Association.
The forum saw the release of the Global Workforce of the Future 2024, Global City Talent Retention Index 2024 and other talent research results, providing important reference and frontier analysis of talent-related issues.
Beijing, as an international hub for exchanges and sci-tech innovation, has vowed to keep optimizing policies and services to provide a better stage for global talents to develop themselves.
"We will implement more proactive, open and effective talent policies, so that Beijing, as an international metropolis, can attract and gather more internationalized talents, and also to foster more internationalized talents. We hope that Beijing will become an important talent center in the world, and we will make unremitting efforts to this end," said Zhang Tianyang, executive dean of the Beijing Institute of Talent Development Strategy.
The forum catalyzed a number of China-Europe talent exchange and cooperation projects, including the signing of a memorandum of understanding in support of the establishment of World Science and Technology Organization in Beijing, the establishment of an internship base between the Peking University of China and Switzerland's Adecco Group, as well as the setup of a China-Europe talent innovation and entrepreneurship center.
"We have reached a lot of cooperation intentions with the European side on the integrated development of education, technology and talents. Through the cooperation in talents and closer people-to-people connections, I believe that all undertakings will achieve a better and win-win development situation," Zhang said.
"The challenges that we have on both sides are really very, very similar. In Europe and in China, we have an aging population. In Europe and in China, we have more and more IT, namely AI, which is shaping work/life in China and in Europe. What we propose is that we make it more easier for researchers, but also for young professionals, and even students in some cases, to share experiences and go to the other country," said the Swiss Ambassador to China Jurg Burri.
Since 2018, the China-Europe Talent Forum has been successfully held for five sessions and has gradually developed into an important platform for talent exchange and cooperation between the two sides.
China-Europe Talent Forum 2024 held in Beijing
