CIIE sends strong signal of China's opening up

SHANGHAI -- The third China International Import Expo (CIIE) sends a strong signal that the COVID-19 epidemic is under control in China, and that China is confirming its opening-up policy to a global economy, said Jean-Paul Agon, CEO of L'Oreal, in a recent interview with Xinhua via video link.

According to Agon, the CIIE will be one of the very few, if not the sole, exhibitions in the world that are not canceled and that will take place offline.

"It's also the perfect expression of this dual circulation as it favors and stimulates both international trade and also internal consumption," Agon said.

Statistics from L'Oreal show that its sales on the Chinese mainland grew by 30 percent in the second quarter, recording 17.5-percent growth in the first half of 2020.

This year's CIIE will take place in Shanghai from Nov 5 to 10. The French cosmetics giant is participating for the third time and will present over 100 new blockbuster products and various cutting-edge tech innovations for beauty.

"China will be probably one of the only countries in the world where the market will be still growing," said Agon. More than 50 percent of the conglomerate's sales in China come via e-commerce. "We were able to benefit from the rebound of e-commerce for beauty products in China in the second quarter."

"We are learning a lot in China and thanks to the learning that we have in China, we are improving our performance in e-commerce in all the countries of the world," Agon said.

In his opinion, the growing trend of livestreaming is helping companies to get closer to generation Z. "There again, we are learning from China and applying it in other countries," Agon said.

For the upcoming expo, L'Oreal will be the rotating chairmanship of the Enterprise Alliance Council, as well as the chairmanship of the Special Committee for the Consumer Goods Industry.