MSR Exo Expands Circle of Friends
The MSR Expo promotes communications of people, knowledge of policies, exchanges of goods, and smooth flow of trade among the participant countries and regions.
Mr. Park, who speaks fluent Chinese, is from the city of Asan, South Korea. This is his fifth attendance at the exposition. “Asan has maintained a close friendship with Dongguan and our company tries to involve in the exposition every year”, said Mr. Park. He told the reporter that China has become one of the major importers of their beauty masks.
The above is a common scene at the MSR Expo. These foreign exhibitors are widely aware that the huge market of China demands more and more top-quality products, and intensive focus on the Chinese market has long been their consensus. The idea of “Do your business and negotiate cooperation in Guangdong” has taken root in their hearts.
As the biggest exposition themed with the “Maritime Silk Road” in China, the participant guests and business exhibitors have continued to increase in number over the five years, allowing the world to witness the increasingly rising popularity, influence and competitiveness of the MSR Expo. In the five years, the exposition has promoted the communications of people, familiarity of policies, exchanges of goods, and smooth flows of trade between Guangdong and other participant countries and regions.
Dongguan has enlarged her circle of friends worldwide through the exposition. Dongguan-based enterprises from different industries have taken advantage of the exposition to “go global and bring in (suppliers and customers)”, leading to incessantly growing trade with the countries along the route of the Maritime Silk Road. As the host city for the event for 5 consecutive years, Dongguan has not only been proactively involved in the event preparations, but also paved the “Aerial Silk Road” to connect Donguan and the other countries and hence built herself a major hub of transportation by land, sea and air along the route of the “Belt and Road” Initiative (BRI).
Promotes Communications of People
Further deepens communications and cooperation
On Oct 25, as soon as the exposition was proclaimed open, the Thai National Pavilion was bustling with traffic. The performances on the stage attracted many visitors stopping to appreciate and take photos. The reporter finds that this is the fourth time that the Guangzhou Office of Thai National Tourism Administration has attended the event.
As learned by the reporter, to bring a unique Thai experience to the general public, the office has especially invited Thai performers and technicians to present exotic Thai culture to the audience. The visitors may get onto the stage to interact with the Thai dancers, learn Thai dance or experience Thai-style massage. “We hope to strengthen the friendship between the Chinese and the Thai people, get to know more business partners and increase mutual communications through the platform, ” said Ye Hu, the PR Manager of the Guangzhou Office of Thai National Tourism Administration.
Close diplomatic relation between nations lies in the friendship between the people while the closeness of people relies on their mutual understanding. For the general public, in their first impression, the MSR Expo is not only a platform to promote trade and investment, but a platform to deepen people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.
According to the statistics of the organizing committee, over the five years, the exposition has hosted more than 70 activities in various forms with nearly 1 million visits. The huge traffic and rich information have collected together. The businesses and visitors of different countries have increased mutual understanding and strengthened communications and cooperation through the exhibitions, interactions and dialogues.
Such communications and mutual understanding have attracted many foreign visitors across thousands of miles by land or sea. “The exhibitors and visitors of the MSR Expo are from all around the world. For instance, the exhibitors from South America, Europe and Africa have traveled thousand of miles to the event and it is the first participation for some of them. Their enthusiasm was overwhelming.” Mr. Chen Yuehua , the Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province, told the reporter at the MSR Expo Result Release.
“What has impressed me most is a Portuguese wine producer named MCM MEDIASIA. The company’s CEO Mr. Alberto entered for the exposition immediately after the promotion in July this year. Despite his trouble in walking, he overcame 28 hours of journey to participate in the event. This is also his first visit to China.” Ms. Ao Yan, the member of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Guangdong Committee and the Secretary General, told the reporter that only with the hearty support from these enterprises could today’s MSR Expo continue to grow.
Over the five years, the exposition has continued to expand the circle of friends, with more and more “old buddy” booths as well as booths of “new pals”. For example, for the five years, Malaysia has maintained the largest group of exhibitors at the event. In particular, the government of Selango, the most developed state in Malaysia, has been directly involved in this exposition itself and solicited many a food Malaysian company to set up the “Delicacy Street of Selango”, highly sought after by the visitors.
This year, the exposition has attracted more politicians, businesses, and merchants of the countries and regions, further increasing its influence. The number of this exposition’s attending countries has exceeded the past ones, with a total of 57 countries and regions present. Among the participants, France, Portugal, Belgium, Holland and Philippines join the event for the first time. Plus the guests at the themed forums as well as the purchasers, the countries involved in the event have exceeded 80 in number.
Promotes Knowledge of Policies
Further develops global economic and trading cooperation networks
“Our juice concentrate enjoys a price 20 percent lower than most similar imports on the Chinese market, so our goal of joining this event is to enter the market of China.” Mr. Chen Zhenghui, the General Manager of the Malaysia-based Bai Xiang Nong Company explained that the advantageous product price is attributed to the preferential tariff defined in the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, “With the certification of Malaysia as the place of origin, our products are free of duties when exported to China”.
Mr. Chen Zhenghui disclosed that China had implemented duty-free policy to 90 percent of the exports from ASEAN countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia since the establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area in 2010, encouraging the companies in relating countries to open up market in China with their products. When news of the duty-free policy spread to Malaysia, the exhibitor invitations and the promotions have been facilitated for many exhibitions in China. There are more than 170 Malaysian companies and over 100 Indonesian companies present at the MSR Expo this year. The organizer of the event has supplied the exhibitors of these two countries with independent exhibition sections.
To many exhibitors, the MSR Expo is not only an industry barometer, but a window to have access to China’s policy updates. At this year’s exposition, many exhibitors are attracted to the policy interpretation session concerning the 2018 Free Trade Agreement and the Policies and Measures of Guangdong Province on Further Expanding Opening-up and Actively Attracting Foreign Direct Investment. “Up till now, China has signed 16 free trade agreements with 24 countries and regions and has further expanded our circle of friends in free trade.” Ms. Yan Hua, who is the head of the Cooperation Division, Investment Promotion Agency of the Ministry of Commerce of PRC, detailed about the overall picture and progress of China’s establishment of free trade zones.
It took no more than a few months for the MSR Expo from the kick-off of preparations to the official opening, so China’s new trade policies have relied more on the transmission from the Chinese economic and trading agencies stationed abroad to the local businessmen. As learned by the reporter, over these years, Guangdong has established communication and cooperation mechanisms at multiple levels with the government departments, commercial organizations, and business association of 50-odd countries and regions along the route of the BRI through the MSR Expo.
Mr. Chen Yuehua explained that at present, there have established in the province of Guangdong 21 overseas economic and trading representative offices, 16 Guangdong offices of overseas chambers of commerce, and long-term cooperation agreements with over 60 organizations of industry and commerce in the nations along the BRI route. Such efforts and progresses have further consolidated and enlarged Guangdong’s circle of friends in overseas exchanges and cooperation, and constructed a system of communication and cooperation with these BRI countries and regions.
With the help of the cooperative networks created by the MSR Expo, Dongguan has also established a few economic and trading representative offices and agencies successively in the USA, UAE, South Africa, and Israel, covering the continents of Africa, America and Asia.
At this year’s MSR Expo Result Release, Mr. Zhong Bing, the Deputy Secretary General of Dongguan Municipal Government said during the interview that, in virtue of the overseas service networks, the city has made great effort to promote the cooperation with the nations and regions along the route of BRI in major fields such as manufacture and etc, give great impetus to the key projects like the Ethiopia-Dongguan Huajian International Light Industry Park and the production base of L&D Ceramics (US) , and facilitate the “Made-in-Dongguan” products, technologies, standards, and service to go global successfully and smoothly.
At the same time, the government of Dongguan has also organized the reputable local enterprises together to explore the emerging markets in South America, Africa, Russia and Middle East. They constructed in Dubai and South Africa the exhibition and sales center for Dongguan-based brands, in a bid to create a never-ending exhibition and trade fair.
Promotes Exchanges of Goods
Give further impetus to Dongguan companies to “go global” and “bring in (customers and suppliers)”
Against the backdrop of intense competitions among a wide range of specialty products from 50-odd nations and regions at each year’s MSR Expo, the Chinese products, especially those made in Dongguan demand sharper competitive edge to stand out at the exposition. During the interviews, the reporter found that targeting at the BRI markets, some local companies created their hit products while the others played the card of Chinese culture and history.
At the exhibition booth of Dongguan-based Ocean Culture Co., Ltd, a variety of innovative cultural products featured with prominent local elements of Dongguan become a big hit, such as bags with the pattern of the West Tower Street, round fans with the printed works of the famous traditional Chinese painters Ju Cao and Ju Lian, and small gifts made from the local Eaglewood, sea salt and herb straws. A lot of purchasers are attracted to the booth.
Mr. Chen Jingdong, the General Manager of Tiancheng Tin Ware Co., Ltd has displayed about forty tin wares with distinctive Chinese features at the exposition. Tin ware is now an obsolete trade that has gradually faded in most people’s memories. According to Mr.Chen, the trade of tinsmiths has declined with the industrialization of the society and the replacement of tin wares by aluminum and plastic products. They wish to rekindle people’s memories about tin wares through the exhibition. Some foreigners as well as many domestic visitors show great interest in the tin wares and the booth has turned into a must-go at the Moments of the visitors’ networking App.
The Tea Culture Exhibition Section with the most prominent Chinese features had received 1,200 visitors from more than 10 countries including Pakistan, Kenya, and Ukraine etc. According to the initial statistics, in these two days, the exhibitors in the Tea Culture Section have reached a volume of 20 million RMB in agreed business with customers from countries along the route of BRI. A number of tea companies has continued to expand cooperation with the businesses along the route of BRI.
“Just a few days before the exposition, we had received a Russian inspection team led by Danis, the Deputy Secretary General of Ulyanovsk Special Economic Zone,” said Mr. Liu Runjia, the General Manager of Yuan He Ben Tea Co., Ltd. Their company caught the attention of a Swiss business at last year’s exposition and the two parties have established a joint venture in Switzerland. This year, this company has received merchants from countries like Ukraine and negotiated about selling the traditional Chinese Pu’er Tea to those countries.
The Intangible Heritage Exhibition Section set up by Dongguan Jason Zeus Trade Co., Ltd has received merchants from countries like Pakistan and Cambodia, who have showed great interest in China’s ceramic products. They have reached an agreed business volume of 2.7 million.
The section most featured with “Made-in-Dongguan” is the newly-established Electronic Information & Intelligent High-end Equipment Exhibition Section. This exhibition section mainly displays the products of artificial intelligence and electronic information such as industrial automation and robots, power transmission and control equipment, smart mobile devices, smart home system, VR&AR, and 3-D printing etc.
According to incomplete statistics, over these two days, the section has already received more than 3,000 visits of merchants from the nations along the route of BRI alone. The reporter observed during his visit that Kechuang Automation Technology Co.,Ltd had received merchants from Vietnam, Russia, and Singapore in these two days. The merchants are very interested in the company’s products like automation equipment, and customized assembly and packing. The volume of agreed business has reached 1 million RMB.
Promotes Smooth Flow of Trade
Futher upgrades trade facilitation
At each year’s exposition, there were several tens of thousands of products on display from more than 50 countries and regions, many of which had never entered the Chinese market before. Thus how to facilitate the entry of these goods for exhibition and transaction and maintain a smooth trading channel has become a problem to be solved by the host city, Dongguan.
“Only with a smooth transportation, comes smooth trade.” Mr. Zhong Bing said to the reporter that Dongguan was building herself a major hub by land, sea and air along the route of the “Belt and Road” Initiative, trying hard to help the businesses to increase logistic efficiency and lower logistic cost.
On land, the city has made great effort to develop cross-border rail transportation service initiated by projects like the construction of the China-Russia Trading & Industrial Park and the Shilong Railway International Logistics Base. In the first three quarters this year, the international trains starting from Dongguan transported 8,312 standard containers of goods, an 18.3 percent increase from last year, and a freight volume of about 60,882 tons, up 40.45 percent from a year earlier.
At sea, Dongguan has presently been constructing a multi-modal hub by land and sea proactively responding to the BRI. The city is taking good advantage of the direct cross-straits transport between Dongguan Port and Taiwan and the closeness to Hong Kong’s large quantities of barges to promote the opening of direct transports between Dongguan Port and the ports of Japan, South Korea, and other Southeastern Asian countries. Currently, Dongguan Port has opened 19 domestic routes and 5 international routes, ranking as one of the top ports across the country.
In the air, the city has fully availed herself of her locational advantage as the center of the three busy airports in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong to have paved an “Aerial Silk Road” connecting Dongguan and the countries along the route of BRI. To do so, the city helped move the project of China’s Super Logistics Line, which was operated by Wanwei Logistics Park Co., Ltd., to Liaobu Vehicle Inspection Yard entirely and build a warehouse in the yard.
Mr. Zhong Bing believes that the construction of the international thoroughfare by land, sea and air has further consolidated Dongguan’s status as the transportation hub of the BRI and created a comprehensive new opening-up panorama.
Thanks to such efforts, Guangdong has further expanded trade and cooperation with the nations and regions along the BRI. In Dongguan, the host city, the MSR Expo has become an important platform for the local businesses to strengthen economic and trading communications with the BRI countries and regions. Via the platform, Dongguan combines her own development experience with the other countries’ intention to pursue development as well as their comparative advantages, making the BRI countries a fertile soil for Dongguan-based companies to thrive in trade.
According to the foreign trade statistics over the recent years, the total import-export volume between Dongguan and the BRI countries and regions has risen from 127.1 trillion RMB in 2013 to 209.9 trillion RMB in 2017, with a growth of 65.2 percent, and its proportion in the total foreign trade volume of the city has increased from 13.4 to 17.1%.
From January to August this year, the total import-export volume between Dongguan and the BRI countries and regions totaled 187.3 trillion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 22.6 percent, and the total export between them reached 121 trillion RMB, up 30.6 percent from a year earlier. Among the exports, mechanical and electrical products occupied a high percentage of 78.1. Up to August, the city of Dongguan has established investment and cooperation with 15 BRI nations in a total of 49 investment projects with an aggregated investment volume of 290 million USD.
From: www.timedg.com
