On October 25, the 9th China International Import Expo (CIIE) entered the 10-day countdown to its opening. As an extension and valuable complement to CIIE and the Hongqiao International Economic Forum (HQF), the Shanghai Conference Activities for CIIE 2026 unveiled the agenda for more than 90 parallel sessions, and registration is now open via the mini-program Shanghai Conference Activities for CIIE. Centered on the session theme Dialogue · Breakthrough · Coexistence, the event sets six major topics, bringing together guests from across the globe. It aims to turn intellectual dialogues into tangible economic and trade cooperation outcomes and continuously amplify the spillover effects of CIIE

The Shanghai Conference Activities have run for two consecutive editions. The previous two sessions attracted nearly 17,000 participants, with foreign guests attending more than half of the events. Nearly 400 high-profile participants took part, including heads of international organizations, senior executives of multinational corporations, members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as experts and scholars. Over 160 deliverables of various kinds were generated across the two editions, yielding substantial and pragmatic results for open cooperation.

Aligned with the HQF theme Stability and Cooperation: Building an Open World Economy Together, this year’s conference has laid out six thematic tracks: Open China and Shanghai’s Practices, Enterprise Internationalization and Overseas Comprehensive Services, Boosting Innovative Trade Development, Green and Sustainable Development, Unleashing New Consumption Potential, and Artificial Intelligence and New Growth Paradigms. Focusing on cutting-edge technologies and industrial transformation, the sessions seek to build consensus through dialogue, explore solutions to shared challenges, and foster more resilient growth.

With hot-button issues such as WTO reform, new trends in Chinese enterprises’ global expansion, and AI-enabled overseas business expansion, the 2026 program features innovative new formats: book report forums, host-branded panel discussions, closed-door think tank dialogues, young scholar exchanges, and the International Resource Allocation Forum for Bulk Commodities. The lineup includes both open public debates and small-scale closed-door seminars, featuring insights from industry leaders alongside voices from young emerging researchers, making exchanges more professional and diversified.

Highlights include a book report session at the 2026 Future Investment Opportunities Conference; a closed-door think tank dialogue hosted by Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, focusing on WTO reform and global trade governance; a seminar jointly organized by the Institute of World Economy at Fudan University and the Shanghai Open Strategy Research Center, where leading young economists will discuss geopolitical conflicts, the AI boom and corporate overseas expansion; and the International Resource Allocation Symposium for Bulk Commodities, which will launch the Shanghai Price Index covering metals, chemicals, energy and computing power, developed jointly by MySteel and Shanghai University.

A full schedule of high-level seminars, blue book launches and industrial outlook briefings has been finalized. On high-standard opening-up, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (jointly established by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government) will host the seminar Deepening High-level Institutional Opening-up to Forge a New Blueprint for Global Connectivity, alongside the release of the Shanghai Opening-up Development Report (2026) blue book中国日报网. The Institute of Applied Economics, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, will release the 2025–2026 Report on the International Competitiveness Index of Key Industries in Shanghai, focusing on industrial competitiveness amid intelligent transformation. The report will provide intellectual guidance and strategic momentum for higher-quality integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta and new international competitive edges.

Against the trend of regionalization, shortening and diversification of global industrial chains, the Seminar on Industrial Security Development in the Yangtze River Delta will pool expertise from industry, academia and research institutes to assess regional industrial security. Academician Yin Yulong of the Chinese Academy of Engineering will deliver a keynote speech. Academician Xia Qiang, President of Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, will also speak on topics including AI-powered smart medical services going global.

During the conference, functional digital platforms will go online, including a cross-border data compliance platform and the digital credit insurance zone on Shanghai International Trade Single Window. A batch of cooperation projects will be signed collectively, turning every conference session into a node for resource matching and a new starting point for deliverable implementation.

Source: Shanghai Securities News