SHENZHEN, China, March 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 3rd, Vice Mayor of Shenzhen Ms. Wu Yihuan, Cultural Counsellor of China Embassy in France Mr. Li Shaoping, and Managing Director of ICIF Company Mr. Ye Jianqiang visited the headquarters of The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) and had a face-to-face communication on the application for the 2014 UFI Sustainable Development Award. UFI 2014 President Mr. Renaud Hamaide, Operations Director of UFI Ms. Sonia Thomas, and Secretary of the UFI Sustainable Development Committee Mr. Christian Druart met with the visiting delegation. At the meeting, Ms. Wu Yihuan introduced the boosting role of China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF) to the cultural industries of Shenzhen and China, and Mr. Ye Jianqiang elaborated to the UFI team on the sustainability of ICIF on exhibition planning, exhibitor and buyer invitation, business match-making, professional services, supporting activities, industry development, employment, environmental protection, and other aspects.
Since November 2006, ICIF has become a UFI approved event. It has been held for 9 sessions under the leadership of UFI. It has been adhering to sustainable development strategies all along since its establishment. On exhibition content, ICIF keeps improving the professional level in an aim of boosting industry development and promoting exchanges and cooperation between China and the world in cultural industries. On environmental protection, ICIF keeps adhering to green exhibition concepts, advocating low-carbon and energy-saving exhibitions through technological innovation and has built and expanded ICIF sub-venues by transforming old factory buildings. On development patterns, ICIF is constructing Online ICIF to encourage the development pattern of "Culture + E-commerce" and developing diversified business models centering on ICIF. After one decade (9 sessions) of development, ICIF's exhibition area grew from 43130 m2 in the first session to 105,000 m2 in the 9th session and the number of its exhibitors boosted from more than 700 to 2,118 with the turnover rocketing from 5.71 billion USD to 26.64 billion USD, the number of participating countries and regions increasing from more than 10 to 93, and the number of sub-venues expanding from 1 to 43. Its status as a national and internationalized cultural industry fair has been established. It has been significantly driving the development of China's cultural industry, largely enhancing the development of cultural industries of central and western China, effectively promoting the development of small and medium cultural enterprises, establishing the new concept of 'Green Exhibition,' boosting the upgrading of regional industry structures, stimulating employment, building new forms and new features of cultural industry development, and promoting the spiritual civilization of society. According to incomplete statistics, after a decade of growth of ICIF, China's cultural industry employment demand has increased by 1 million, and Shenzhen's cultural industry employment demand alone has increased by more than 100,000. The cultural industry of Shenzhen, the host city of ICIF, has been developing rapidly at an average annual rate of 20 percent since 2003. And the added value of the Shenzhen cultural and creative industry reached 21.71 billion USD, accounting for 9 percent of the city's GDP. The cultural industry has become one of the four pillar industries of Shenzhen.
As is known, winners of the 2013 UFI Sustainable Development Award were South Africa's Cape Town International Exhibition Center and Scan Display, both of which are leading enterprises in the international exhibition and convention industry. For ICIF, a fair right shifting into the growth stage from the initial stage, the application of UFI sustainable development is an important step in its international development. It is a conclusion for the one-decade achievement of ICIF, and would also serve as a spur to the future development of ICIF. It would be of great significance in building ICIF into an internationally renowned fair and promoting cultural exchange and cooperation between China and the world.
