VALLETTA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The promotion meeting for the Canton Fair and 2019 China International Import Expo (CIIE) took place here on Monday, attended by 40-odd Maltese enterprises.

"China and Malta have carried out fruitful cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, delivering tangible benefits to our countries and peoples. We welcome Maltese businesses to participate in the Canton Fair and the CIIE and explore more avenues of cooperation with their Chinese counterparts," Jiang Jiang, China's ambassador to Malta, said in his speech.

Xu Bing, deputy director general of China Foreign Trade Center, briefed the participants on the CIIE and the Canton Fair, and said that the latter is a symbol of China's opening up aimed at attracting buyers and exhibitors from all over the world every spring and autumn regularly.

"CIIE is an important decision made by China to promote a new round of high-level opening up," he said. "The first CIIE was very successful. The second edition of CIIE will be held in Shanghai on Nov. 5, 2019. Maltese enterprises are welcome to participate," he said.

"We need to promote these events more, this is very important," said Frank V Farrugia, president of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry. "I think there are a lot of possibilities (for trade cooperation between China and Malta), but we have to move away from the traditional background of imports."

The promotion meeting was co-hosted by the Economic and Commercial Counsellor's Office of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Malta, the China Foreign Trade Center, Trade Malta and the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.