On October 12, the founding meeting of the Yangtze River Delta Exhibition Research Institute and the Yangtze River Delta Exhibition Alliance, together with the first meeting of the Alliance, was held at the Gubei Campus of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics. The event was jointly hosted by the Yangtze River Delta Exhibition Alliance, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association.
The meeting was divided into two stages. The first stage was the founding meeting of the Research Institute and the Alliance. Attendees included Wang Rongming, President of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics; Zhang Guohua, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce; Zhang Qianjiang, Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province; Qiao Xingli, Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce of Anhui Province; leaders from the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office and the Department of Commerce of Jiangsu Province; Chen Jianxin, Party Secretary of the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association; Sang Jingmin, Deputy Party Secretary and President of the Association; members of the expert committee of the Research Institute; and representatives of member organizations of the Yangtze River Delta City Exhibition Alliance. The meeting was chaired by Wang Chunlei, Joint Executive Dean of the Research Institute and Dean of the School of Tourism and Event Management of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics.
In his speech, Wang Rongming, President of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and Joint Dean of the Research Institute, noted that the Yangtze River Delta is China's most dynamic and competitive region for the convention and exhibition industry. The settlement of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai has created a rare historic opportunity for a new round of development in the region's exhibition industry. However, how to seize this opportunity, strengthen regional coordinated development and better enable the exhibition industry to serve the national strategy of integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta are urgent issues for study. The founding of the Research Institute is not only an important tool for strengthening regional coordination in the exhibition industry, but also a strong means to bring into fuller play the special function of the exhibition industry in serving the national strategy of Yangtze River Delta integration.
At the meeting, Zhang Guohua, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, congratulated the founding of the Research Institute and the Alliance. He emphasized the need to study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches, advance integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, and jointly carry out four tasks. First, promote key projects by integrating industry resources and making key regional cooperative exhibitions stronger and larger. Second, carry out forward-looking research and provide high-quality research results around the accelerated formation of a new development pattern in which domestic circulation is the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforce each other. Third, amplify spillover effects by sorting out regional exhibition information and jointly launching distinctive activities and projects. Fourth, strengthen training and exchange by enhancing industry training and establishing cooperation mechanisms.
Zhang Qianjiang, Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province, stated that on August 20, General Secretary Xi Jinping held a symposium on the high-quality integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta and emphasized focusing closely on integration and high quality while advancing key work. The founding of the Research Institute and the Alliance is an important means for the exhibition industry to implement the national strategy of Yangtze River Delta integration. He expressed four hopes: that the Research Institute and Alliance would take integrated and high-quality development of the region's exhibition industry as their purpose, resource integration as their method and the construction of exhibition theory as their core, continuing to build a platform and provide strong support for the rise of the region's exhibition industry; that they would use their own strengths and characteristics to conduct valuable research in light of industry needs and serve as good advisers for government decision-making; that they would integrate regional resources, support innovative development and vigorously promote digital transformation and upgrading; and that the Research Institute would actively build a dialogue and exchange platform among governments, exhibition industries and universities across the region.
Qiao Xingli, Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce of Anhui Province, said that the founding of the Research Institute and the Alliance has created a regular exchange platform for the exhibition industry across the Yangtze River Delta and provided theoretical guidance and support for healthy industry development. He expressed confidence that the Alliance and the Research Institute will become important tools for government to guide exhibition-industry development and will promote integrated and high-quality development. As an administrative department for the exhibition industry, the Anhui Department of Commerce will further strengthen cooperation with the commerce departments of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, make full use of the Alliance and Research Institute platforms, give play to Anhui's strengths, take initiative, actively support the development of the two platforms and make Anhui's contribution to integrated regional development.
Huang Ying, Director of the Service Trade Division of the Department of Commerce of Jiangsu Province, stated that regional exhibition cooperation should draw on each party's strengths, complement advantages, highlight differences, give the exhibition industry more functions and promote policy connectivity. The Research Institute will provide stronger momentum for the region's exhibition economy. With the strong industry support of the Alliance, the Research Institute can closely follow new industry trends and market needs, build on local advantages, study national and local policies, guide industry transformation and upgrading, improve public-service functions, optimize time and space layout, innovate development paths, and gradually build a healthy pattern of integrated exhibition project formats, government-market interaction and differentiated development, thereby raising the professional and international levels of the region's exhibition industry and creating differentiated regional exhibition brands.
Chen Jianxin, Party Secretary of the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association, Joint Dean of the Research Institute and Honorary President of UFI, introduced the founding of the Alliance. He noted that the Yangtze River Delta is one of China's most economically active, open and innovative regions. As an important part of modern services, the region's exhibition industry has also delivered an outstanding performance in recent years with support from the commerce departments of the three provinces and one municipality and the efforts of industry colleagues. According to statistics from the China Convention and Exhibition Society, among the top 30 Chinese exhibition cities in 2019, eight were in the three provinces and one municipality, accounting for 23.58 percent of national exhibition area. Among the top 100 cities, 27 were in the region, accounting for 27.56 percent of national exhibition area. Under full-scope national statistics, 40 cities in the Yangtze River Delta were listed, with total exhibition area of 42.2265 million square meters, accounting for 28.45 percent of the national total. In terms of venues, the region had 69 exhibition venues in 2019, accounting for 23.28 percent of the national total, with 3.06 million square meters of indoor exhibition space, accounting for 25.45 percent of the national total.
Chen said that whether in hardware such as venues or in software resources such as exhibition projects, the Yangtze River Delta holds a vital position in China's exhibition industry. Cooperation and exchange among regional exhibition industries also has a long history of 15 years. The predecessor of the Alliance was the Yangtze River Delta City Exhibition Alliance, initiated by Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Hefei, Nanchang and Ningbo and formally established on December 18, 2006. A total of 24 city exhibition offices and associations from the three provinces, one municipality and Jiangxi Province later joined. While affirming achievements, Chen also noted that development remains unbalanced and insufficient. These challenges require active responses from every exhibition enterprise and make it more necessary and urgent for colleagues across the region, including Jiangxi, to unite, support one another and seek common prospects. Facing the new requirements of the national strategy for regional integration and new industry competition, the City Exhibition Alliance needed to do more and bring together broader forces. Against this background, it was renamed the Yangtze River Delta Exhibition Alliance.
To ensure a high standard for the Research Institute, well-known experts, scholars, exhibition-industry administrators and association leaders from the three provinces and one municipality were invited to form an expert committee. Sang Jingmin, Deputy Party Secretary and President of the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association and Joint Executive Dean of the Research Institute, announced the list of expert committee members. Leaders from commerce authorities of the three provinces and one municipality, leaders from the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office and joint deans of the Research Institute issued appointment letters to the first group of 19 experts, including Gu Chunting, Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Council for the Promotion of International Trade. The unveiling ceremony for the Research Institute and the Alliance followed.
The second stage was the first meeting of the Alliance. Member organizations from the region attended, including the Jiangsu Convention and Exhibition Industry Association, Zhejiang International Convention and Exhibition Industry Association, Anhui Convention and Exhibition Industry Association, Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association and Jiangxi Convention and Exhibition Industry Association. In his report on the renaming of the Alliance and related work, President Sang Jingmin said that on March 12, 2019, presidents and secretaries-general of convention and exhibition industry associations from the three provinces and one municipality gathered in Shanghai to discuss integrated development. The meeting agreed that the region's exhibition industry had flourished in recent years and held an important national position. Integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta is a national strategy, and the successful first CIIE created a rare opportunity for integrated development of the region's exhibition industry. Therefore, such integration is required by the situation.
The main tasks of the Alliance are to publicize, explain and transmit policy information from the Party and government concerning exhibition-industry development; submit policy and institutional recommendations to government departments for regional industry development; connect service resources within the Alliance; publish relevant information on industry development across the three provinces and one municipality; build a regional exhibition-industry brand; establish a self-discipline mechanism among member organizations; promote exchange, cooperation and resource sharing among members; and advance international cooperation.
Alliance members at the meeting agreed that they should deeply understand the status and role of the Yangtze River Delta in national economic and social development, fully bring into play the economic driving role of the exhibition industry in the accelerated formation of a new development pattern, and make the region's exhibition industry stronger and larger. Advancing regional integration is both a national strategic direction and a development opportunity. The founding of the Alliance will help associations, institutions and enterprises in the three provinces and one municipality work together more effectively, complement strengths, coordinate, share resources and advance cooperation, thereby contributing to higher-quality integrated development of the region's exhibition industry while realizing their own development.
During the meeting, all Alliance members reviewed the report on renaming and related work, the draft charter of the Alliance, the list of chair and vice chairs, and the list of directors. They were also informed of the appointment list for the secretary-general and deputy secretaries-general. Chen Jianxin was elected chair of the Alliance. Tang Qiang, Executive Vice President and Secretary-General of the Jiangsu Convention and Exhibition Industry Association; Chen Cui, President of the Zhejiang International Convention and Exhibition Industry Association; Wen Liangwu, President of the Anhui Convention and Exhibition Industry Association; and Sang Jingmin, Deputy Party Secretary and President of the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association, were elected vice chairs. By agreement, Sang Jingmin would serve as the first rotating executive chair. Tu Jianqing, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association, was appointed secretary-general of the Alliance. Tang Qiang, Qian Xinli, Zhang Wumin and Chen Hong were appointed deputy secretaries-general. The Alliance secretariat is located at the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association.
The meeting called on all Alliance members to unite and work together to promote high-quality integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta exhibition industry in the implementation of the national strategy for regional integration.