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The Press Conference for the opening of the 124th session of China Import and Export Fair was held in Canton Fair Complex in the morning of Oct 14th. Mr. Xu Bing, spokesperson of the Canton Fair, Deputy Director General of China Foreign Trade Centre, introduced the characteristics, highlights and prepation of this session to press from home and abroad.

Xu Bing introduced that this year marks the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up. Since its establishment in 1957, especially the 40 years after reform and opening-up, we at the Canton Fair have always kept in mind the big picture of reform and opening-up and followed China’s strategy of foreign trade development; we have spurred innovation in different stages in our history and experienced profound changes in the content, form and function of the Fair. The Canton Fair has made great contribution for Chinese companies, products and brands to go global, to expand export and import, to build China into a big and strong trading nation, and to the development of an open world economy.

At the 124th Canton Fair, we will follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and implement the spirit of the 19th CPC Congress, the second and third plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee and the instructions of President Xi’s congratulatory letter. We will focus on the goal of becoming a strong economic and trading nation in advance, stick to the principle of maintaining stability while pursuing progress, and implement new development concept. According to the principle of quality development of the Canton Fair, we will continue to improve Canton Fair’s specialization, market-orientation, information technology application and international development, play its role as a multi-functional platform and drive Canton Fair’s development in a manner of high quality. Therefore we will make new contribution to the steady growth of foreign trade, to the building of a strong trading nation and the development of an open world economy.

Xu Bing introduced that the whole arrangement of the 124th Canton Fair remains the same and exhibition size steady. The 124th session will still be held in three phases with a total exhibition area of 1.185 million square meters and 60,645 booths. There are 25,583 exhibiting companies from home and abroad. Phase 1 starts from Oct 15th to 19th, showing Electronics and Household Electrical Appliances, Lighting Products, Vehicles Spare Parts, Machinery, Hardware & Tools, Building Materials, Chemical Products and Energy Products. Phase 2 starts from Oct 23rd to 27th, showing Daily Consumer Goods, Gifts and Home Decoration Products. Phase 3 starts from Oct 31st to Nov 4th, showing Textile and Garment, Shoes, Cases and Bags, Recreation Products, Medicine and Healthcare Products and Food.

16 categories of products will be exhibited in 51 sections. In this session, there are 59,647 booths and 24947 exhibiting companies in the National Pavilion. The booth arrangement is as follows: 12,125 brand booths and 47,522 general booths, taking up 20% and 80% respectively. The number of exhibiting companies in 3 phases is: 8,735 in Phase 1, 7,561 in Phase 2, and 8,651 in Phase 3.

The International Pavilion will be set up in Phase 1 and Phase 3, with an area of 20,000 square meters. There are 998 booths and 6 product zones, and 636 enterprises and 10 national and regional delegation from 34 countries and regions.

Xu said that in this session we take the opportunity of brand booth review and structural optimization of exhibition sections; work hard to improve specialization of the National Pavilion. Support strong and quality exhibitors and carry out the review of 2018 CF Awards in a quality manner. With the concerted efforts of exhibition organization parties, companies have taken an active part in the selection of the awards and we have witnessed stronger companies as well. There are 3847 companies in the selection, whose demand for booths almost doubled the size of brand zone. 80% of the companies in the selection are those from the last session. After strict selection process, we have picked 2297 brand companies and arranged 12125 booths in the brand zone for them; among them, 31.5% are new exhibitors and 58% are production enterprises. We have not only returned participating companies from the past who are developing steadily and enjoy strong capacity, but also new participants. This has improved the exemplary effect of the brand exhibitors, bettered the quality and structure of exhibition and displayed the brand image of China’s foreign trade. We have also enhanced the quality of new theme sections; new exhibitors in New Energy, Pet Products and Outdoor Spa take account of 19.15% of the total, with better structure as well. Also we stick to the 5% update ratio of all exhibitors and encourage the participation of exhibitors with “self-owned IPR, brand and self-marketing; high technological content, high added value and high return”, to showcase the latest development of Made in China. We will also support the growth of local feature industries. In Area A Phase 3, we will establish 7 textile and garment industrial cluster in the Central Lane, including 4 national demonstration bases of the transformation of foreign trade, and formed a concentrated display of local feature industries. Optimize structure of exhibition sections. We have expanded the size of household electrical appliance section, kitchenware and household items section, adjusted the location of pet products and watches and glasses section; set up a multi-function area for onsite event at Hall 7.1 during Phase 3 to improve the effect of garment section by interaction of exhibition and event; furthered the development of product zones and establish 152 product zones in 41 sections, among which the men’s and women’s wear, underwear, cases and bags and office supplies will be divided into product zones for the first time. 82% of all the exhibition sections are divided into different product zones, meaning we have done so in every section that is suitable to be further divided.

In this session we will make good use of domestic and international markets and resources and improve the function of “selling to and buying from the globe”. 60% of our overseas exhibitors are from “Belt & Road” countries and regions. We have altogether 7 national delegations and 3 regional delegations. Expand global network for strategic cooperation.We’ve strengthened our efforts in exhibitor recruitment of the B&R countries, deepened our cooperation with trade promotion agencies of local governments and industrial and commercial organizations and launched thematic promotion with such organizations in Turkey, Thailand and India. Introduce quality overseas exhibitors and products. In Phase 1 we will display industrial products with high technological content and high-end brands, in Phase 3 we will introduce consumer products with regional features, complementary advantage compared with domestic products and high market demand for import. Nurture exhibition themes. We will arrange part of overseas exhibitors adjacent to domestic exhibitors in the sectors of electrical and electronic products, textile and garment, to realize coordinated development of such products from home and abroad. We will also set up a baby product zone and international daily chemical products and comprehensive health zone. Improve trade matchmaking effect. We will organize multiple trade matchmaking events to provide “one-stop” solution for suppliers and buyers.

Xu mentioned that in this session we will stick to the principle of “innovative, specialized, targeted and delicate”, focus on key sections and target markets, to provide a more convenient attending experience, more secure transactions and higher return for buyers. Spur innovation in marketing mode. We’ve carried out big-data driven digital marketing based on social media and search engine, strengthened remote video promotion, to improve the intelligent marketing. Focus on specialization. We’ve focused on content marketing and will enhance theme and creative idea design of the content according to different sections, industries and markets. We’ve also send content in line with marketing purpose through professional channels. Targeted marketing. In the framework of Canton Fair Overseas Partnership Program, we’ve enlarged our cooperation with overseas industrial, commercial and trade promotion organizations as well as specialized industrial associations; engaged in targeted marketing with different strategies for different regions and countries according to the demand of exhibition sections and target markets; improved big data analysis and life cycle management of buyers and invite buyers of different regions and industries in a targeted manner. Delicate service. We’ve advanced Buyer Incentive Program and stepped up our cooperation with airlines, hotels and financial industry; improved CRM of key customers through Overseas VIP Lounge, I-Invite, ARNB and etc. In the meanwhile, we will organize supplier-buyer networking for regional trading delegations and MSS sourcing activities to provide more professional and convenient services and to improve buyers’ attending experience.

Xu said that in the 124th Canton Fair we will continue to provide information service, play Canton Fair’s role as a comprehensive multi-functional platform to boost quality development of foreign trade. We will promote open economic development of different regions. To support local feature industries, products and brands to go global and to promote export, we’ve tapped into Canton Fair’s vast resource of buyers at home and abroad and will launch local industry promotion and trade matchmaking events according to their needs. Specifically we will organize 105 promotion events for Guangdong Province, Hunan Province, Liaoning Province, Guizhou Province, Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu Province, Sichuan Province, Fujian Province, and Qingdao, Nanjing, Chengdu, Guangzhou cities etc. We’ve enhanced leading effect of CF Awards. 629 companies with 1214 products have participated in the competition of 2018 CF Awards; both number a record high. After selection by the committee, 100 products from 77 companies have won Bronze, Silver, Gold and Best of Best Awards, and the awarding ceremony will be held during Phase 2. We will organize high-quality conferences and forums. We will organize 20 events, covering the themes of international trade development, trade risk prevention and control, Sino-US trade friction, supplier-buyer matchmaking, IPR, fashion trend, etc. We will improve the effect of Canton Fair product design and trade activities. In this session we will welcome 107 design agencies from 14 countries and regions and 34 garment design brands to participate in our design display, presenting abundant resource for the upgrading of enterprises. Canton Fair Original Design Fashion Show has been renamed “Canton Fair Fashion Week”; the multi-functional onsite area for events at Hall 7.1 will be used for relevant activities combing fashion show, color trend, trade analysis and so on. We will also organize “2018 Design Guangzhou” series activities to build a bridge for global design and China’s manufacturing.

Xu said that as a window of IPR protection and innovation encouragement of the Chinese government, in this Canton Fair we will provide guarantee of IPR for innovation-driven development. We will improve IPR protection awareness. Through summarizing the experiences, classic cases, and results, we will nurture a culture of respect for originality and efforts for innovation. We will also improve precaution mechanism. Through risk reminder, self-examination and correction, inspection during the Fair, we will cover all the exhibition sections. We will enhance law enforcement authority. We will invite experts of law enforcement department and trade dispute arbitration professionals to station at the Fair, to make sure the cases are dealt with in a fair, just and open manner.

We continue to advance “Canton Fair + Internet” action plan, and accelerate the digital transformation of Canton Fair. We’ve realized wifi coverage in the entire Complex; both wifi smoothness and stability have been greatly improved. Having been exploring the data application of Canton Fair, we’ve launched heat map of crowd based on wifi usage in all the indoor exhibition halls and statistics and analysis service, showing the crowd situation with data. We’ve improved the badge application procedures and optimized the environment of registration office in Area A; established 12 more green channels of online pre-registration and provided fast badge pick-up service for those who already pre-registered, thus improving our service and buyers’ experience.

We will continue to press ahead Canton Fair Green Development Plan 2.0 and implement China’s ecological civilization strategy with our actions. We will advance comprehensive green development, enhance coordination of the entire industrial chain, advocate green exhibition, green conference, green catering and green transportation, to improve the quality of green development. We will also upgrade green standards and evaluation system. On the basis of standard green booths, we’ve further specified 3 categories (environmental protection, energy saving and consumption reduction and recycling) of or 14 quantitative evaluation standards. We will constantly improve the display effect. We will promote the universal usage of professional materials; launch green booth selection and awarding ceremony; enhance the awareness of green design; establish best practice and enhance the publicity of green booth award winner to improve overall display effect. We will boost the upgrading of solid waste management. According to the principle of “overall amount control, classification management, garbage collection within a fixed amount and self-handling of garbage beyond the fixed amount”, we’ve established a constraining system to strengthen the classification and treatment of solid waste and to reduce environmental pollution and resource waste.

To implement the central government’s strategy on poverty alleviation and State Council’s instructions on supporting foreign trade development, we will issue various measures to reduce the burden of exhibitors. We will collect booth fee in accordance with the reduced standard in the 119th session; cancel booth fee for exhibitors from poor areas and reduce and cancel 23 service fees. We will set up the Traditional Chinese Specialties section with altogether 180 booths, or 159 exhibiting companies from 22 trading delegations. Also we will set up interpretation service stations at this section to provide free interpretation service. In the meanwhile we will also provide guiding and training to these exhibitors on transaction to play Canton Fair’s role of boosting foreign trade and economic development of poor areas.

Xu emphasized that we will value security to ensure the stable operation of the fair. We’ve worked closely with relevant departments of Guangdong Province and Guangzhou Municipality to build a comprehensive security and prevention system; enhanced supervision of safe production and coordinated drills; improved badge application and security check environment and stepped up ID verification. We’ve also cracked down upon “blacklisted agencies” and strengthened examination of booth usage in violation of regulations, especially we will carry out a “carpet-style” examination of all brand booths. We will also improve our efforts on terrorist attack and explosion prevention, food safety, health and disease prevention and emergency treatment.

Xu Bing also answered questions of journalists on Canton Fair’s role in reform and opening up, development of the International Pavilion, implementation of “Belt and Road” initiative, contributing to targeted poverty reduction, IPR protection and buyer attendance.

In this session some key events are as follows.

The Opening Reception of the 124th Canton Fair will be held in Westin Hotel in the evening of Oct 14th.

Canton Fair International Trade Development Forum will be held in the afternoon of Oct 15th.

2018 Canton Fair Foreign Trade Innovation Development and CF Awarding Ceremony will be held in Conference Room No.8, Area B, in the afternoon of Oct 24.

Briefing of China’s foreign trade situation (fall of 2018) will be held in the afternoon of Nov 3rd.

Canton Fair dialogue will be held in the afternoon of Nov 3rd.

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Pub Time : 2018-11-16 13:24:23