12 Nov 2025
By Richard Muir, Deputy Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.
Day three of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce delegation’s visit marked an important milestone - participation in the China International Import Expo (CIIE), one of the world’s largest and most influential import focused trade events. The day began with the official opening ceremony and various meetings focusing on the role of financial services in supporting international trade and the opportunities for collaboration with businesses across Glasgow and Scotland.
Later in the morning, I and some of our delegation took part in an interview with China Radio International (CRI), part of China Media Group. This provided a valuable platform to discuss Glasgow’s strengths as an international business city, its leadership in engineering, manufacturing, sustainability, and its long-standing commitment to global partnerships.
Through such media engagement the Chamber continues to raise Glasgow’s international profile, promoting our businesses and investment potential to a global audience. I was asked about what drives our commitment to returning to CIIE and what has changed in the last few years as well as to share insight on our visiting businesses and what they hope to achieve from the visit. I was asked to comment on my thoughts of China continuing to host CIIE and what it means for Scotland and UK as important platform for trade and for my thoughts on free trade and Glasgow Chamber’s continued efforts since we formed in 1783 to encourage reductions in trade barriers and how this continues to this day.
Following the media session, delegates toured the expansive CIIE exhibition halls, meeting companies and visiting trade booths that represent a wide cross-section of international business and commerce. Highlights included a visit to Orient Enterprise’s Whisky booth which continues to stock many of our smaller and early stage Scottish brands from previous visits to CIIE.
I then had the honour of being a guest at the opening of The Macallan 360 Experience at CIIE and working with the excellent Edrington team in China including Maggie Chan and Carol Xu. Maggie, the Managing Director of Edrington, China kicked off with a short speech on The Macallan 360 Experience and for the ribbon cutting and toasting, I was accompanied by Rachel Walter's, Operation Director of The Macallan Estate, and Mr. Sohail Shaikh, His Majesty’s Deputy Trade Commissioner, British Consulate-General Shanghai. It was a great event and a pleasure to be working with one of our Partner members overseas with such an iconic Scottish brand in such a prestigious session. I know that our delegates enjoyed the networking too and it was good to see Stuart Dunn of British Chamber of Commerce Shanghai and other familiar faces at the event..
All of these engagements demonstrated the enduring strength of Scotland’s export reputation - particularly in premium food and drink - and the ongoing appetite within the lucrative Chinese market for high-quality, authentic products with heritage and provenance.
The final day of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce’s visit to CIIE 2025 placed a strong focus on the rapidly growing world of e-commerce and digital innovation. The morning began at the CIIE E-Commerce Conference hosted at the Ludi Hotel in Hongqiao District, supported by the Shanghai Commission of Commerce. Delegates joined local business leaders and policymakers and other overseas businesses to meet and discuss the latest trends in online retail, digital logistics, and the technologies reshaping global supply chains.
The session provided valuable insights into how Shanghai and China are leveraging their digital infrastructure and entrepreneurial culture to become one of the global leaders in e-commerce - lessons that resonate strongly with Glasgow’s own ambitions for digital growth and innovation. We heard how the Waigaoqiao Global Hub is a key platform for predominantly ‘Silk Road’ E-commerce and is working with 34 regional centres and has added a 6+ 365 day physical permanent exhibition and trading model leveraging FTZ policy advantages and has turned exhibition items from CIIE into commodities and exhibitors into investors.
It was particularly pleasing to hear from Madam Zhou, our principal contact at the Shanghai Commission of Commerce on how much she valued Glasgow’s attendance and our participation at CIIE and the China (Shanghai) International Tech Fair in June and she stressed that she was keen to provide further support for our visiting Scottish businesses in the future.
In the afternoon some of our the delegation returned to CIIE for a series of targeted meetings with key partners, including Shanghai Rishang Tax Free Group, which operates one of the city’s major airport retail operations. These discussions offered an opportunity to explore collaboration in duty-free retail, cross-border trade, and consumer engagement, particularly within the growing Chinese market for premium and sustainable products.
As the visit drew to a close, the delegation reflected on a positive and successful programme of meetings, visits, and exchanges across Shanghai and with partners in Beijing. Over four days, the group has engaged with senior government officials, major state-owned enterprises, innovative private sector leaders, and international media - building connections that will help drive future collaboration between Glasgow and China. The CIIE has once again proved a valuable platform for connecting Glasgow businesses to international networks and for showcasing Scotland’s strengths in high-quality goods, cleantech innovation, education, food and drink and responsible business practices. We are looking forward to following up with all of our businesses in the coming weeks on valuable outcomes which might result in new contracts, new distributors, fresh partnerships, purchasing of hardware and technical equipment, providing consistent quality assured products and a fundamentally better understanding of the Chinese market and opportunities.
This extraordinary week again highlighted the strong potential for growth of Scottish business and brands and reaffirmed Glasgow’s role as a forward-looking, leading internationally connected city - open to partnership, innovation, and shared success. Once again strength of the ‘home team’ and camaraderie of our Glasgow delegates was impressive and they deserve credit for venturing into a new market and will surely reap the business rewards in the near future.
Glasgow Chamber extends its sincere thanks to all of our visiting delegates who devoted a week of their time to be with us and the valuable access provided by all of our partners, hosts, and supporters who helped make this visit a success and also to Xiang Li and John Wilson our representatives and experts in China.
The trade mission was supported by Scottish Government and Scottish Chambers of Commerce through the International Trade Partnerships programme.
