Staffers arrange Decathlon's booth to be unveiled during the fifth CIIE in Shanghai on Tuesday. The French sporting goods retailer will launch a number of innovative products in China for the first time. (CHEN MENGZE / FOR CHINA DAILY)

With China creating more favorable conditions for foreign companies to grow their business in its lucrative and vast market, the annual China International Import Expo has become a magnet for exhibitors to debut their new products and technologies, said multinational executives.

They said these moves reflect the Chinese market's growing significance to the global economy as the country's dual circulation growth paradigm — in which the domestic and international markets complement each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay — has already taken shape.

Foreign companies like Decathlon, Ikea, Bosch and Roche Pharmaceuticals will display hundreds of new products, cutting-edge technologies and innovative services during the fifth CIIE, which will be held in Shanghai from Saturday to Thursday. Many of the participating firms are scheduled to make global debuts — both in Asia and China — according to information released by the CIIE Bureau, the event's organizer, earlier this week.

China is playing an ever-greater role in the global economy. Take the automotive industry as an example. This sector is leading the transformation toward electrified and connected mobility, said Chen Yudong, president of Bosch China, whose parent firm will be a five-time participant at the CIIE.

In addition to making the global debut of its latest driving solutions at the upcoming CIIE, the German company will unveil its 400-kilowatt fuel cell system test bench and full redundant electrical hydraulic steering system for heavy commercial vehicles, both of which have yet to be launched in Asia.

With the outdoor activities market growing fast in China over the past two years, Decathlon, a French sporting goods retailer, will launch the global premiere of its new eco-design mountain bikes for both teens and adults at the CIIE, as well as bring a number of innovative products to China for the first time, meeting consumer needs for home fitness, outdoor camping, kite surfing and other emerging sports scenarios.

Pascal Bizard, senior vice-president of Decathlon China, said the CIIE has helped the company's development in China over the past few years. China is Decathlon's first overseas market outside its home market with a whole industrial chain presence.

German industrial company Bosch's booth awaits visitors for the fifth CIIE on Wednesday. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Woody Guo, senior vice-president of Herbalife Nutrition, a United States-based global nutrition company, said as a window for China to continually promote its high-level opening-up, the CIIE provides a high-standard platform for multinationals like Herbalife to introduce their products on a global stage.

Herbalife Nutrition will make the global debut of its DHA omega-3 gummies and launch its fish oil softgel supplement, another new product to be featured in China during the grand event.

"We are highly confident in the long-term prospects of the Chinese market and will continue to increase our investment in product innovation, digital transformation and personalized nutrition in China," Guo said.

Eager to reinforce its position in global industrial and supply chains and eventually inject more stability into the global economy, China released its 2022 catalog of industries to encourage foreign investment in late October, a move widely seen as part of intensified efforts to attract more foreign investment and expand high-standard opening-up.

To take effect on Jan 1, the catalogue has 1,474 items, among which 239 are new and 167 are modified from that in the previous catalog released in 2020, said the National Development and Reform Commission.

In the area of trade in services, Xie An, sustainability and climate leader at Deloitte China, said the company will debut its China carbon footprint database at the CIIE.The figures are based on the company's national input and output economic data as well as energy consumption data, to help companies better conduct supply chain emissions reductions and carbon footprint calculations.

Xu Mingqi, a researcher with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said these facts show that the majority of global companies' decisions for investment and product debuts are based on market conditions and growth potential, and they are acutely aware that no single economy — or only a few countries — can independently provide all the resources and ideas of innovation for producers, or offer all the needed goods and services to consumers.

zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn