To thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's symposium in Shanghai on further advancing integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, further promote integrated development of the region's exhibition industry and fully leverage the leading role of the Yangtze River Delta Exhibition Alliance, the 2025 Alliance work meeting was successfully held on January 19, 2026 at Radisson Hotel in the Shanghai Eastern Hub International Business Cooperation Zone. Presidents and secretaries-general of convention and exhibition associations from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Shanghai, together with leaders and representatives of the Yangtze River Delta Exhibition Research Institute, attended the meeting. Li Hong, second-level inspector of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, and Shi Chen, Director of the Exhibition Industry Department, attended for guidance.
The meeting was chaired by Chen Jianxin, Chair of the Alliance.
Qiu Xiaoping, rotating chair of the Alliance, delivered a two-year work summary. In 2024 and 2025, the Alliance steadily advanced work in accordance with its 2024-2026 three-year action plan, focusing on regional exhibition information sharing, policy convergence, talent cultivation, industry self-discipline and international cooperation, and achieved a series of significant results.
In international exchange, the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association has hosted the International Exhibition Industry CEO Shanghai Summit for many consecutive years. In 2024, under the theme of recovery and refinement, strategic new opportunities amid global change, the summit attracted more than 320 senior industry leaders from China, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and other countries to discuss topics such as the evolution of consumer markets and industrial globalization. In 2025, focusing on exhibition innovation driving sustainable development, the summit gathered more than 300 executives and industry leaders from international exhibition organizations in more than 30 countries and regions. It built a high-end exchange platform for the global exhibition industry, showcased frontier industry trends, and enabled the Yangtze River Delta exhibition industry to express Chinese standards and voices to the world while accumulating experience in international services.
In basic work, the Jiangsu association carried out provincial exhibition rating and qualification certification for exhibition engineering enterprises, optimizing evaluation standards. The Zhejiang association deepened cooperation with the Hungary-China Economic Chamber of Commerce, worked to expand the European market, held an exhibition planning and creativity competition that reached a new scale and added a special track for new consumption, provided foreign-related compliance services, and normalized member-to-member visits, achieving both service effectiveness and self-sustaining development.
In talent cultivation, associations across the three provinces and one municipality worked together. Jiangsu and Nanjing jointly held training courses. Zhejiang added digital exhibition courses to senior training programs. Anhui hosted the 2024 Second Yangtze River Delta Wuhu Seminar on Regional Integration and Development of the Exhibition Economy. Through expert lectures and case sharing, these activities improved the professional level of practitioners.
In industry research and brand building, the Alliance was guided by internationalization, marketization, branding, specialization, greening and digital intelligence. It hosted important events such as the China Exhibition Industry Annual Conference and built high-quality branded exhibitions. The Zhejiang association prepared multiple industry reports. Its 2025 research on U.S. tariff barriers provided reference for policy improvement. It also held the Global Exhibition Forum, released two authoritative reports and promoted the signing of the Global Exhibition Industry Innovation Cooperation Initiative.
In external cooperation, Alliance members attended the meeting of presidents of exhibition associations from 11 provinces along the Yangtze River Economic Belt in 2024 and established a long-term cooperation mechanism. In 2025, they attended the Seventh China-Arab States Expo, participated in launching the China-Arab Exhibition Industry Alliance and signed the Yinchuan Declaration. They also attended the Fourth Southeast Exhibition City Cooperation and Development Conference, promoting interregional information sharing and industrial integration.
At the same time, the development of the Alliance and the integration of the region's exhibition industry face challenges. Exhibition resources are unevenly allocated, with facilities, talent and funds concentrated in core cities. Homogeneous competition remains, with overlapping themes, service models and marketing strategies causing resource waste. Exhibition standards and statistical systems still require unified definitions, affecting integrated evaluation and decision-making.
In response, Qiu proposed four suggestions: establish a normalized communication mechanism for the Alliance based on quarterly consultations and monthly information briefings to ensure information symmetry and implementation of resolutions; strengthen coordination and sharing of regional talent training to avoid low-level repetition; jointly cultivate regional branded exhibitions by identifying one key forum or branded exhibition for each association as a priority supported by the Alliance; and build an online service platform for the Alliance, including a small program for exhibition statistics integrating policies, venues, exhibition schedules and other information to achieve data sharing and efficient coordination.
She said that the integration of the Yangtze River Delta exhibition industry has moved beyond simple project cooperation and entered a new stage centered on integration and deep service to regional industrial innovation and opening-up strategies. In the future, the Alliance will continue to promote institutional innovation and planning coordination, strive to build the world's most dynamic exhibition-economy ecosystem, provide a Yangtze River Delta solution for high-quality development of China's exhibition industry, and help regional integration reach a new level.
Wang Chunlei, Joint Executive Dean of the Research Institute and Dean of the School of Exhibition and Communication of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, delivered the Research Institute's work summary. In 2025, the Research Institute focused on core industry development needs and demonstrated professional responsibility through multi-dimensional efforts.
It carried out high-quality exhibition industry research. The Research Institute deeply participated in work related to planning for the exhibition industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, using precise data analysis and professional judgment to support policy formation and industry upgrading. It also participated in key projects including post-event research on the Shanghai Import Expo, satisfaction surveys for Shanghai New International Expo Centre and a report on the digital development of exhibition organizers, producing research results with practical value and providing scientific reference for industry decisions.
In concept innovation and model promotion, the Research Institute actively advocated integrated development of culture, tourism, commerce, sports and exhibitions. It successfully held the Fourth Forum on Communication and Development of Culture, Tourism and Sports, inviting experts to deliver keynote speeches and share Shanghai's advanced experience and practice models in integrated development, providing useful reference for industrial integration and upgrading in other regions.
The Research Institute actively participated in important industry activities, connecting with resources and taking part in the Hangzhou exhibition external exchange meeting, the International Exhibition Industry CEO Shanghai Summit, activities of the International Conference Research Center and Ningbo exhibition broker training.
It also played a bridging role in promoting integration of industry and education. The Research Institute co-hosted the 2025 China Exhibition Education Forum in Wuxi, carried out special training for Wuhan's exhibition industry, organized faculty members from regional universities to join CIIE study activities, and promoted deep connection between university education and industry practice to cultivate high-quality professional talent.
As a think tank, the Research Institute submitted multiple targeted policy recommendation reports, continuously summarized experience, optimized research methods and widely absorbed valuable opinions from enterprises to ensure that research results matched actual industry needs.
Looking ahead to 2026, the Research Institute will continue to deepen its work in the exhibition industry and focus on three priorities. First, it will advance preparation of the second Yangtze River Delta Exhibition Industry White Paper, comprehensively reviewing regional development and integrating key data to provide authoritative guidance for coordinated regional development. Second, it will integrate expert resources and university strengths to build a platform for telling the story of China's exhibition industry, fully showcasing the achievements and unique charm of the industry and enhancing its international influence. Third, it will further deepen integration of industry and education, explore new models and paths of university-enterprise cooperation, and promote deep integration of the education chain, talent chain, industrial chain and innovation chain to provide a solid talent foundation for sustainable and healthy industry development.
Association presidents from the three provinces and one municipality then exchanged views on their main work during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and their work ideas for the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Wen Liangwu, President of the Anhui Convention and Exhibition Industry Association, reviewed key achievements during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, clarified development directions for the 15th Five-Year Plan period and expressed strong expectations for deeper regional cooperation. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the Anhui association took high-quality development as its guide and advanced work steadily. It upheld Party-building leadership, took the lead in establishing a temporary Party branch, built cross-regional and cross-sector cooperation bridges, organized multiple professional training programs, integrated into the overall development of Yangtze River Delta integration, explored international development paths and empowered the industry through targeted services. For the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it will continue to uphold Party-building leadership, deepen industry research and development planning, strengthen cooperation with associations in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, promote innovation and transformation, and improve the industry standard system.
Sang Jingmin, Deputy Party Secretary and President of the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association, shared the association's achievements in leading high-quality industry development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and outlined the development blueprint for Shanghai's exhibition industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the Association focused on building a core support system for Shanghai as an international exhibition capital and systematically advanced key work. It built the International Exhibition Industry CEO Shanghai Summit into a well-known high-end brand, participated in international organization activities in Singapore and Hong Kong, supported CIIE across the full chain through member organizations, promoted resource sharing, standard mutual recognition and regional coordination, selected Shanghai branded and outstanding exhibitions for two consecutive years, promoted legal construction and a better business environment, strengthened safety and green development, supported industry recovery during the epidemic, carried out monitoring and analysis of exhibition operations, continued qualification evaluation for display engineering enterprises and normalized talent training. The Association maintained its 5A social organization rating and was named an advanced social organization.
Looking to the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the Shanghai association will promote industry transformation and upgrading to a higher standard. It will benchmark against international first-class standards, promote the shift from scale expansion to value leadership, deepen green exhibition practices, strengthen regional resource linkage, and continue both bringing in and going global to expand domestic and international interaction.
Tian Yong, President of the Jiangsu Convention and Exhibition Industry Association, summarized the association's key work in 2025 and shared Jiangsu's experience around integrated high-quality development. In 2025, the association focused on strengthening foundations and regional linkage. It led preparation of the Jiangsu Convention and Exhibition Industry Association White Paper, established a functional Party branch, expanded the membership system and submitted core data on venue operations and exhibition hosting to relevant ministries and commissions. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Jiangsu will focus on deepening regional coordination, strengthening routine cooperation mechanisms, participating in joint standards for green and smart exhibitions, expanding exhibition cooperation with Central Asia and countries along the southern route of the China-Europe Railway Express under the Belt and Road framework, and creating cross-regional premium exhibition projects based on distinctive intellectual property such as Jiangsu football events.
Chen Cui, President of the Zhejiang International Convention and Exhibition Industry Association, shared practical experience and cooperation proposals around integrated development. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the Zhejiang association strengthened its own construction, successfully held the 10th Global Exhibition Forum and the Zhejiang Exhibition Planning and Creativity Competition, promoted digital upgrading and standardization, led the introduction of exhibition construction standards, received a 5A social organization rating in 2023, expanded membership to more than 200 enterprises, and deepened cross-regional cooperation. Looking ahead, it will continue improving the quality and international visibility of the Global Exhibition Forum, cultivate digital exhibitions, improve the talent cultivation system and deepen cooperation with the Alliance and associations across the region.
Chen Jianxin, Chair of the Alliance, delivered a speech. He highly praised the meeting and its outcomes, summarizing its features in three words: solid, powerful and caring. He set directions and gathered strength for high-quality integrated development. For the next stage of Alliance work, he raised three core requirements. First, continue improving linkage efficiency and strengthen mechanisms for aligning regional development plans, based on each province and municipality's industrial characteristics and strengths. Second, improve consistency of industry standards. In response to inconsistent statistical definitions, he suggested using booth layout maps as reference and net exhibition area as the calculation standard to improve data sharing and evaluation efficiency. Third, deepen paired cooperation and coordination, extending cooperative development from the provincial level to prefecture and county levels and activating grassroots industry vitality.
He also expressed expectations for the Research Institute: publish the Yangtze River Delta Exhibition Industry Development White Paper every two years; strengthen cooperation among research institutions and universities in the three provinces and one municipality; and deepen research on the unique development path of China's exhibition industry, identify highlights and typical cases in regional coordination, tell the stories of the Yangtze River Delta and China's exhibition industry well, and enhance national influence and international discourse power.
Li Hong, second-level inspector of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, delivered guidance. She fully affirmed the detailed work reports and future plans of the participating organizations. In connection with the national strategy for regional coordination, she reviewed the original mission of collaborative exploration in the region's exhibition industry and emphasized that integrated development of the exhibition sector is an important practice in implementing the national strategy and an important support for high-quality regional economic development.
She summarized her feelings about the meeting in two words: solid and warm. Solid was reflected in the fact that associations and institutions from all provinces and municipalities based their work on industry needs and regional coordination, focused on concrete tasks and achieved results in industry research, standard formulation, branded activities, industry-education integration, digital transformation and international connection. Warm was reflected in the mutual support, resource sharing and exchange of experience among all organizations, forming a sound atmosphere of unity and cooperation.
Based on recognition of past work and expectations for the future, she proposed three hopes: better, more practical and warmer. She noted that the meeting venue, the Eastern Hub, is itself an important part of a national strategy, integrating functions such as international business, training and exhibitions. It matches the strategic direction of coordinated regional development and provides important platform support for high-quality development. On behalf of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, she stated that Shanghai will give full play to its openness advantages, fully support exploration and practice by the Alliance, and work with associations from all provinces and municipalities to advance integrated development and make greater contributions to national strategies and regional economic vitality.
At the end of the meeting, the Alliance held a handover ceremony for the rotating chair organization, transferring the role from the Jiangsu Convention and Exhibition Industry Association to the Zhejiang International Convention and Exhibition Industry Association.
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