What changed
Shanghai has announced more than 90 side events for the ninth China International Import Expo, which opens in 10 days. The 2026 programme will focus on six areas: openness, internationalisation, trade innovation, green development, consumption and artificial intelligence.
The events will include discussions on WTO reform, Chinese companies expanding overseas and AI-enabled internationalisation. Shanghai will also launch a cross-border data-compliance platform and a digital credit-insurance section for international trade, while several cooperation projects are scheduled for signing.
Why it matters
This year’s expo is being designed as more than a marketplace. Its organisers are trying to connect trade deals with the practical systems around them: compliance, insurance, industrial competitiveness and overseas expansion.
That shift matters because cross-border business often slows down in the paperwork between the showroom and the contract. The new platforms are intended to make that process easier, although the announcement does not yet show whether they will materially increase trade activity.
The programme also gives Shanghai a stage to define how it sees the next phase of global commerce. Reports on the city’s open development and the international competitiveness of its key industries will put local policy and industrial performance into the same conversation as WTO reform, sustainability and artificial intelligence.
The previous two editions drew nearly 17,000 participants, including almost 400 senior officials, international organisation leaders, executives and academics, and produced more than 160 reported outcomes. The test this year is whether the expanded format can turn that high-level discussion into durable cooperation rather than another crowded calendar of forums.
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