The 26th China International Fair for Investment & Trade (CIFIT) concluded on September 11 in Xiamen, Fujian Province, with organizers reporting delegations from 129 countries and regions and more than 100,000 business visitors.

Centered on bilateral investment, the fair combined exhibitions, forums, project matchmaking and cooperation negotiations across three main sections: “Investment in China,” “China’s Investment” and “International Investment,” according to the organizers’ account of the fair.

Financial Exhibition Space Expands

The financial exhibition area expanded to 25,000 square meters and 140 participating institutions, including major financial regulators, policy banks and investment institutions, the organizers said — a footprint equal to roughly one-eighth of the fair’s total exhibition space at its new venue.

A Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) exhibition zone — China’s platform for clearing and settling cross-border renminbi payments — brought together 74 globally systemically important banks and regional leading banks representing 46 countries and regions.

Organizers described the zone as supporting cross-border RMB settlement, trade facilitation, financing and capital management, with financial activities at the fair designed to connect global capital with real-economy industries.

Finland and Saudi Arabia Headline Delegations

More than 1,200 government agencies and business groups sent delegations, with representatives from 30 international organizations also attending, according to the organizers. Among the world’s top 50 economies by GDP, 48 sent delegations, and organizers described the international participation and delegation scale as historic highs for the event.

For the first time, the fair named dual guest countries of honor and dual guest provinces of honor: Finland and Saudi Arabia served as guest countries, while Guangdong and Qinghai were the guest provinces.

Finland brought 42 enterprises and institutions spanning engineering, telecommunications and the forest industry, including KONE, UPM, Nokia, Valmet and Metsä. Saudi Arabia organized 186, spanning energy, chemicals, investment and aviation, including Saudi Aramco, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Public Investment Fund — the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund — ACWA Power and Riyadh Air.

New Venue and Online Project Matchmaking

CIFIT took place at the Xiamen International Expo Center for the first time, with exhibition space increasing from 120,000 to 200,000 square meters.

The “Cloud CIFIT” platform established 968 online exhibition booths and released more than 4,700 projects, and organizers reported over 19,000 online matchmaking sessions through the platform.

A capital project matchmaking pavilion introduced a “Project Supermarket” featuring 130 selected projects, which completed more than 1,300 one-on-one negotiations, according to the event account. The fair also organized 46 thematic activities and 52 project roadshows, and released 28 reports, including the “China Two-way Investment Report 2026” and the “Statistical Bulletin on Foreign Investment in China 2026.”

How much of that pipeline — more than 4,700 released projects and more than 1,300 completed negotiations — progresses into signed agreements is the follow-through metric to track after the fair’s close.

Future Investment Conference Addresses Global Investment

The Future Investment Conference 2026 focused on the theme “Global Investment for a Changing World,” with discussions covering artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, life sciences, healthcare, clean energy and advanced manufacturing.

At the conference’s opening ceremony, Vice Minister of Commerce Ling Ji said China was willing to share development experience with global partners, describing support for digital transformation, intelligent development and green transition.

ing also said China would continue working toward a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory international investment environment, with the stated effort including the promotion of investment liberalization and facilitation.