This photo taken on September 6, 2025 shows the venue of the 25th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province. The 25th CIFIT is scheduled to be held from September 8 to 11, 2025. Photo: VCG

The 25th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) is scheduled to kick off on Monday in the coastal city of Xiamen in East China's Fujian Province, gathering over 15,000 corporate and institutional exhibitors and participants. 

Analysts said that China's stable growth, artificial intelligence-powered industrial upgrading and widening market access promise investors both immediate deals and long-term innovation dividends. And the enthusiastic participation in the event is a vote of confidence in China's economic development.

This year's CIFIT is scheduled to run from Monday to Thursday. The event includes investment-themed activities, exhibitions and road shows, attracting participants from more than 120 countries and regions, including 11 international organizations, and more than 1,100 business delegations, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Notably, 77 Belt and Road Initiative partner countries are confirmed to attend the CIFIT. Countries including Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Uzbekistan will send high-level delegations for in-depth engagement, while countries including Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia and Thailand will set up dedicated national pavilions, according to a Xiamen Daily report on Sunday.

The Xiamen fair will also see a significant increase in outbound investment activities compared with previous years, according to the Fujian Daily. 

At a press conference held on Saturday, Yu Guangsheng, deputy director of the investment promotion bureau of China's Ministry of Commerce, said that as China's only national-level major exhibition focused on investment, the CIFIT covers a total exhibition area of 120,000 square meters. More than 100 investment promotion activities will be held, aiming to establish the event as a flagship exhibition for "Invest in China" and a key platform for promoting two-way investment.

The fair will also include a symposium attended by multinational corporations, a dialogue between prominent private enterprises and Fortune 500 companies, and some 30 specialized investment promotion activities, showcasing the vitality and opportunities of "Invest in China" in a comprehensive and multidimensional manner, Xinhua reported.

The expansion of its floor space and the rise in international participation make the fair an emblem of high-level openness. As the 25th edition kicks off, the fair is hailed by Chinese experts as a vital engine for global investment and development, offering open-ended win-win opportunities and a timely boost to the world economy.

In a note sent to the Global Times on Sunday, Schneider Electric said the company remains optimistic about the Chinese market and is confident in the Chinese economy. "Currently, China's manufacturing industry is undergoing profound structural changes, with a focus on upgrading to high-end, transforming to intelligent, and developing in a green manner. Schneider Electric believes that leveraging important platforms for high-level opening-up, such as the CIFIT, will provide us with greater development space with huge market potential and innovative opportunities." 

The Chinese market is becoming Schneider Electric's global innovation "source" and a "catalyst" for accelerating technology implementation, it said, noting that the company will continue to expand in China and increase its investment in the Chinese market.

According to the company, the Schneider Electric Xiamen Industrial Park, scheduled to start operations in 2026, will become its largest medium-voltage production base in the world.

"Multinationals' expansion is a vote of confidence in China's structural upgrade - from a manufacturing giant to a global innovation center," Wang Peng, associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.

At a time of rising protectionism and geopolitical tension, the CIFIT offers a multilateral stage that signals China's resolve to stay open, bolsters international investor confidence and fosters complementary resource-sharing along industrial chains, injecting hard-won certainty into global trade and investment, Wang said.

The event also spotlights the vitality and opportunity of "Invest in China," analysts said.

This sentiment was supported by UK Trade Commissioner Lewis Neal, who expressed confidence in China's economic outlook during an interview with Xinhua, highlighting significant growth potential in sectors such as vehicles, life sciences and renewable energy. "Wherever Chinese companies go in the world, we want UK firms to be at their side," he said.

The UK, the guest country of honor at this year's CIFIT, will send its largest-ever business delegation to the upcoming 25th edition, comprising more than 100 companies and representatives, according to Xinhua.

The CIFIT is no longer just a venue for attracting foreign capital. It has become a key springboard for Chinese companies to go global, Zhou Mi, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that he sees this year's fair as a shared space for dialogue, trust-building and consensus-reaching.