A free trade agreement for countries in the Asia Pacific has encouraged more businesses in the region to explore the Chinese market at the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair.
The grand expo kicked off in south China's Guangzhou City on April 15. Its 135th session has attracted over 29,000 companies across the world.
Deepening implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a trade agreement that entered into force in 2022 and comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries, has provided a broader market for its member states that is enticing many first-time attendees to the fair.
Among these newcomers is a South Korean AI company, which chose to exhibit at the fair due to lowered costs and taxes as well as an improved trade environment in the Chinese market. A representative said the firm hopes to build connections with Chinese consumers and partners at the event.
"The Canton Fair is the biggest fair in China, because there are many foreign buyers, right? [It] also has very awesome Chinese companies. We'd like to find some Chinese buyers or we'd like to work with some Chinese companies," said the South Korean exhibitor.
Meanwhile, purchasers from signatory countries are becoming an important customer source for Chinese exporters at the Canton Fair.
One firm specializing in manufacturing and developing charging piles has been seeing a steep rise in orders from RCEP countries, as well as countries party to the China-proposed Belt and Road agreement, which promotes trade connectivity.
"The number of purchasers from Belt and Road countries has been increasing most rapidly. Every day, there are probably dozens of buyers who are very interested in our products, and are willing to talk about orders and price with us. Since they have already imported many new energy vehicles from China, they want to buy charging piles from China as well to match those vehicles," said Zhou Fengyin, an exhibitor.
The current session of the biannual fair incorporates three separate five-day phases that will run through to May 5.
Regional free trade agreement brings newcomers to Canton Fair
China is the "best possible partner" for Serbia to achieve its national goals, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in an interview prior to Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit to the country.
In the exclusive interview with China Central Television (CCTV) in Belgrade on Tuesday, Vucic praised Xi as a humble man who keeps his word.
"We are doing a lot of preparations. We have many dreams. When you run the country you have big aims, high dreams. You need to put your new targets always. And if we can reach these new aims, new targets, new goals, the best possible partner for that has always been, and it will always be, People's Republic of China. And it's President Xi, because President Xi, he keeps his words. I see him as just a regular, humble, modest man, but which is not promising a lot, but when he promises something, then he fulfills that. I cannot tell you whether we had bigger preparations in our railroad sector or overall infrastructural sector or industrial sector, economy sector or tourism sector, whichever sector, or cultural sector, because there are thousands of things that we can and we should learn from our Chinese friends," he said.
Vucic said Serbia's preparations for Xi's visit would help ensure its success and deliver benefits to both nations.
"Let me say it's a big visit and now we are going to be, after today, we are going to be fully devoted to that visit, and I believe that we'll be able to deliver the very best results for the benefit and for the sake of Chinese people and Serbian people as well," he said.
The president also hailed the positive effects on bilateral trade between the two countries since a free trade agreement was signed in Oct 2023, making Serbia China's 29th global free trade partner.
"And there is one very important thing. The free trade agreement that we signed in Beijing. That's a big deal for us, because now we have reached 6.1 billion (U.S. dollars of) overall trade exchange between our two countries. And I believe that we're going to double or triple within 10 years, or even more than that, with this free trade agreement, this is very possible and I believe this will open new doors, new gates for better cooperation even in the future," he said.
Bilateral trade between China and Serbia soared from 596 million U.S. dollars in 2016 to 4.35 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. In 2022, China became the largest source of direct investment for Serbia.
China best partner for Serbia to achieve national goals: Serbian president
