This is the third consecutive year for Microsoft to attend the China International Import Expo (CIIE). “Faced with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's CIIE being held on schedule is an exciting feat in itself,” said Alain Crozier, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Greater China Region, in an interview with China Today on November 6 during the third CIIE.
“As Chinese President Xi Jinping said in the keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the CIIE, the Chinese people have exerted extraordinary efforts and made major strategic gains in controlling the coronavirus. The Chinese economy is steadily picking up, as evidenced by the positive overall growth in the first three quarters. This is a major contribution to economic recovery in the world,” Alain Crozier quoted Xi’s remarks which he thought was very impressive.
Then, he pointed out the uniqueness of the CIIE, saying, “It can bring together well-known companies from all over the world, covering high-end application scenarios in all walks of life, and is a concentrated expression of global advanced productivity and technological achievements.”
When asked about what the company had brought to the third CIIE, he said, “We’re showcasing some advanced digital technologies together with our Chinese partners, including several representative scenarios: smart health-care, smart agriculture, smart manufacturing, smart retail, and smart education.”
Microsoft’s booth at the third CIIE showcases the advanced digital technological solutions in several representative scenarios.
Talking about China’s new development paradigm with domestic market as the mainstay and domestic and international markets reinforcing each other, he said that China's vast domestic market will stimulate the constant potential for innovation. He further explained that from the perspective of the technology industry, there are huge opportunities in the process of technological innovation and in accelerating transformation and development in all walks of life in China -- from the rise of the mixed office model during and after the pandemic to the new trend of online-and-offline integration of products and business processes and across-the-board digital development.
“Microsoft is fully supporting nearly 17,000 partners in the Chinese market to fully explore the huge potential in new technologies and applications such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, mixed reality, and injecting long-lasting vitality to more industry companies’ digital transformation,” he said.
As a foreign-funded enterprise rooted in China for nearly 30 years, Microsoft is a witness to the historical period of China's reform and opening-up, innovation, and development. Crozier also pointed out the fact that China has been steadfastly expanding all-round opening-up and exploring more efficient ways to connect domestic and foreign markets and sharing factors of production and resources. The Chinese market is turning into a market for the world, a market shared by all, and a market accessible to all, Crozier indicated. This way, more positive energy will be able to be brought to the global community, he observed.
“We believe that the CIIE represents China's increasingly open business environment and an increasingly powerful innovation potential. In the context of the continuous global fight against the pandemic this year, the scheduled holding of the CIIE is of special significance. It provides more foreign-funded enterprises with investment and business opportunities in China,” he concluded.
