Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang met Juan Carlos Varela, president of Panama, and his delegation on Thursday. Li welcomed his guests to visit Shanghai again and said President Varela’s attendance at the China International Import Expo and his unveiling of Panama companies’ exhibitions showed the great importance Panama has attached to the Sino-Panama relations. The CIIE is China’s major step to further opening-up to the outside world, as President Xi Jinping said at the opening ceremony of the CIIE that the expo is not China’s solo performance but a cooperation project among all the participating countries. The expo will be held annually and the following expos will be better and more effective.