Storyline: 8th China International Import Expo kicks off in Shanghai [Voice_over] During a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 8th CIIE, Chinese premier Li Qiang stressed the importance of cooperation and criticized unilateralism and protectionism. [Sound_bite] Li Qiang, Chinese Premier: "As the Chinese saying goes, those who benefit all will be supported by all. The CIIE is increasingly welcomed and supported by countries around the world because it has brought true benefits to the world. In contrast, some unilateral and protectionist measures have had a severe impact on the international trade order, disrupted the world economy, and brought great challenges to the development of many countries." [Voice_over] Premier Li also highlighted the certainty of China's market and economy. He said in five years, China’s economy is expected to surpass 170 trillion yuan, approximately 23.9 trillion US dollars. [Sound_bite] Li Qiang, Chinese Premier: "Let me summarize this certainty into two aspects. First, it provides the certainty of development. China will continue to prioritize economic development and focus its efforts on pursuing high-quality development, with special emphasis on expanding domestic demand, especially boosting consumption, to fully unleash the potential of its mega market of 1.4 billion people. The second certainty is the certainty of openness. China will firmly advance high-standard opening up, steadily expand institutional opening up, and introduce more measures of voluntary and unilateral opening up." [Voice_over] This year's CIIE will bring together 155 countries, regions, and international organizations, featuring more than 4,100 overseas enterprises and covering an exhibition area of more than 430,000 square meters - a new record for both scale and participation. [Sound_bite] Paul Grimes, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Trade and Investment Commission: "We have our biggest delegation ever here, 160 Australian companies participating in our pavilion, and over 260 companies associated with CIIE. So that's indicating just how important this is as an event." [Sound_bite] Roy Van Den Hurk, General Manager, Milk New Zealand Dairy LTD: "What China is trying to do is actually encourage trade with every country in the world, and I always believe trade is what makes everyone better off. With the whole world being a bit tight in terms of trade and everything out there, I think this just makes it even more important." [Voice_over] Over 460 new products, technologies and services will be introduced at this year's expo, with a special focus on frontier sectors such as low-altitude economy and humanoid robotics, as well as new themes including the silver economy, ice and snow economy, and sports economy. A special exhibition area has been set up to support businesses from the least-developed countries. [Sound_bite] Adel Elarbi, Ambassador of Tunisia to China: "I think it’s a signal of openness, of open trade. So we open to each other to exchange more, to exchange our markets, to open our markets for all products. And everybody can win." [Voice_over] The first seven editions of the CIIE have together generated intended deals worth more than $500 billion. This year’s event is the first important economic event that China hosts after the fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. It once again demonstrates China's determination to further promote its high-standard opening up and shared development with the rest of the world. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]