World leading French luxury goodsbrand LVMH has signed an agreement with the Shanghai National Exhibition and Convention Center confirming its participation in this year’s China International Import Expo, another positive development of Sino-French trade relations.

The signing took place at the LVMH Group’s headquarters during a State visit by President Xi Jinping to France, on Monday and Tuesday.

Director of the LVMH Group, Antoine Arnault, said the arrangement would reinforce the success of the event and allow France to play an important role.

“The question isn’t to know if joining the CIIE will help the LVMH group to achieve its goals in China, the real challenge is to demonstrate our affection and admiration for China, our friendship for its people and our willingness to partner with its government. That’s the meaning of the important decision we make today by signing this letter of intent as part of President Xi Jinping’s state visit to France,” he said.

The LVMH Group is a French company with 140,000 global employees that brings together more than 70 subsidiaries, from Louis Vuitton to Moet and Chandon, from Hennessy to Bulgari, and from Dior to Sephora. It now has a network of more than 550 stores and thousands of outlets in China, and has recruited 15,000 workers across the nation.

The president of the Shanghai National Exhibition and Convention Center, Sun Chenghai, also director general of the Bureau of the China International Import Expo, said: “China welcomes the participation of French fashion brands at the CIIE, which is a good way to introduce more French goods and services to Chinese consumers.”

With the growing Chinese middle-class, there is higher demand for luxury goods in the market. Sun said this was a key reason the organizer had added a new category for high-end commodities for the second edition of the CIIE in Shanghai this November.

The CIIE was inaugurated in 2018 by Xi and the second edition is being organized by the Chinese ministry of commerce and the government of the city of Shanghai. It will take place from Nov 5 to 10, at the Shanghai National Convention and Exhibition Center.

The expo aims to support and facilitate the access of foreign companies to the local market, allowing them to develop their economic and commercial partnerships.

At the first edition of the event in 2018, more than 170 countries, regions and international organizations were represented. In addition to 140 official delegations, there were 1 million visitors from China and abroad, including 400,000 professional buyers and 4,000 journalists. Of the top 500 global corporations, 222 were represented.

In 1990, LVMH opened a boutique at Beijing’s Palace Hotel, regarded as a symbol of China’s modern development.

“It is in this spirit, with our great commitment to China, that we seize the opportunity of the visit to France by President Xi, at the invitation of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, to sign this agreement, which is a clear testimony of our confidence in the long-term vigor of the Chinese economy and our friendship for its people,” Arnault said.