Shanghai CIIE connects Chinese Dream with the world's

Inside an exhibit booth of about 20 square meters, people stopped at handmade Afghan carpets and rugs, admiring the unique design, softness and natural dyes that had made the crafts among the finest in the world for centuries.To get more news about CIIE, you can visit shine news official website.

"One large carpet usually takes a family six to nine months to weave and these beautiful and durable carpets show the heritage of craftsmanship passed down through generations of families in Afghanistan," said Ali Faiz, a 28-year-old merchant who participated in the China International Import Expo (CIIE) for the third time.

Carpets used to be among Afghanistan's most important trade and export goods. But the industry is declining due to decades of conflicts and Western sanctions. When Faiz brought the carpets to the Chinese market, he also took with him the hope of people in the war-torn country.

Since it was launched in 2018, the CIIE has been carrying the hopes of people, both in China and the other countries, to advance shared prosperity and progress through international trade and business cooperation.

And this global fair has turned Faiz's dream for a better life into reality.

A MARKET FOR THE WORLD

Through the CIIE, Faiz has received orders for over 2,000 carpets, which he said have brought a year's worth of income to more than 2,000 Afghan families. Thirty-eight-year-old Boston Barati's family is one of them.

Growing up in a slum on the outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul, Barati learned carpet weaving when he was a child and never thought he could own a workshop before his carpets were sold to China.

Walking through a courtyard in Kabul packed with wool threads, several weavers were busy knotting yarn around the warp which made the base of a carpet before they used dyed yarn as a pile to create the carpet's design. Barati was sitting next to them, drawing carpet patterns with a computer.

"My life was changed after I started exporting the products to China," Barati said. "I built this house and bought a new car thanks to our successful business in China."

Faiz and Barati were not the only ones to seize the moment for a changed future. Since the debut of the CIIE, China has been encouraging and assisting companies from the least developed countries to join the expo to seize opportunities presented by China's development.

At the ongoing exhibition, from Afghan handicrafts to Rwandan coffee, from the cutting-edge medical instruments designed in Silicon Valley to giant mining equipment in Brazil, enterprises across the globe are exploring the opportunities in China, the second largest economy in the world, to grow their international businesses.

The CIIE has become a showcase of China's new development paradigm, a platform for high-standard opening-up, and a public good for the whole world, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday when addressing the opening ceremony of the fifth CIIE via video.

"The most important thing about the Chinese economy is that it's predictable," said Khairy Tourk, a professor of economics at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. "It is enjoying a steady and positive growth, a stable currency, and a financially strong foundation. That's why China is a very attractive country to invest in."