On Oct 18, the 130th Canton Fair, hosted a cloud matchmaking event called Bridge for Trade, to facilitate trade between the Chinese and overseas business communities.

This time, this “bridge on cloud” stretches to Kuala Lumpur and Negeri Sabah in Malaysia, Kiev in Ukraine, Berlin in Germany and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, as well as China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

At the matchmaking event, the China Foreign Trade Centre, the organizer of Canton Fair, signed agreements with the Malaysia Promas International Business Society and the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, or ULIE, to forge partnership ties.

Officials of the China Foreign Trade Centre said that the 130th Canton Fair features new characteristics including a highlight on the dual circulation development, the concurrent event of the Pearl River International Trade Forum and a combination of offline and online shows for the first time.

Business matchmaking events like the Bridge for Trade continue to be a highlight of this session of Canton Fair, which are organized in cooperation with and supported by China’s overseas business promotional organizations, diplomatic missions and trade promotional organizations of foreign countries, according to the centre’s officials.

Liu Yajun, an official responsible for economic affairs at the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said at the matchmaking event that the biannual Canton Fair has played an important role in promoting Hong Kong’s trade with the mainland.

Zhao Li, minister-counselor for economic affairs at the Chinese embassy in Ukraine, said he hopes the partnership between the China Foreign Trade Centre and ULIE can make greater contributions to economic cooperation between China and Ukraine.

Xu Yuansheng, a counselor at the Chinese consulate-general in Rio de Janeiro, said the 130th Canton Fair is held both offline and online after three online sessions since last spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the consulate-general wants to use this event to promote Sino-Brazilian trade and the consulate-general itself is willing to offer its assistance in this regard.

Allen Shi Lop-tak, president of the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong, said Canton Fair is China’s largest gala for international trade and is an event that Hong Kong’s entrepreneurs can never miss. And the Bridge for Trade event is an important venue for Hong Kong’s businesspeople to find opportunities for trade, although they could only attend online due to the pandemic.

Zheng Lizhen, president of Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Canton Fair is the pride of the Chinese people and a blessing to the Malaysian business community. “This is especially true when the Malaysian businesses are facing great difficulties due the COVID-19 pandemic,” the president said. “And it is the right time for Malaysian enterprises to attend as the online and offline Canton Fair is among the rare opportunities for business they can find in the world.” 

Anatolii Kinakh, president of ULIE, hailed the partnership agreement it signed with the China Foreign Trade Centre as a good start for their efforts to deepen China-Ukraine trade relations.

Duan Wei, secretary-general of the German Chamber of Commerce in China, said the session of Canton Fair is a good chance for German companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to find partners and identify business opportunities.

Gislaine Carrijo, a manager for international trade at Brazilian textile industry association of Abcasa, said the 13th Canton Fair is a milestone in its history as it is held both offline and online for the first time.

In addition to countries like Malaysia, Ukraine and Brazil, the Bridge of Trade cloud platform offers a total of 54 promotional and matchmaking events for 41 countries and regions in the world.