The CIIE logo and mascot Jinbao are showcased at a news conference in Shanghai on July 27, 2018. [Photo by Yang Yang/chinadaily.com.cn]

The preparation for the second edition of the China International Import Expo is going smoothly, with 500 companies from 40 countries and regions having signed up for the expo already, according to the organizers.

On the sidelines of the CIIE promotion conference in Shanghai on Jan 18, Zhou Lingyan, deputy general manager of the CIIE exhibition department, said that 80 percent of the current exhibitors have participated in the first expo while 70 of them are top 500 companies or industry leaders.

Wang Hongwei, the CIIE bureau officer in charge of buyer registration, said that they will extensively invite companies in manufacturing, distribution and service industries, and place more emphasis on inviting private companies and small- and medium-sized enterprises to the Nov 5-10 event.

Wang Bingnan, vice-minister of commerce and director-general of the CIIE bureau, said the second expo will strive to be larger in scale and better in quality.

Ludwig Liang, vice president of Philips China, Owen Haacke, chief representative of the US-China Business Council Shanghai office, and Oguri Michiaki, president of Japan External Trade Organization Shanghai, shared their experiences from the first expo at the promotion conference that was attended by more than 500 guests from companies, governments and media.

Around 1.7 million pieces of news and other information related to CIIE were posted online in 2018, while China, United Kingdom and Germany are among the most mentioned in the country pavilions of the expo, according to the organizers.

Smart and high-end manufacturing was the most popular section within the business and enterprise exhibition at the inaugural event, according to a report released on Jan 18.