Overseas buyers arrive early to secure orders ahead of 140th Canton Fair

Overseas buyers and veteran attendees of the Canton Fair arrived in south China's Guangzhou City ahead of the biannual event to visit supplier factories, inspect new technologies, and lock in orders.

The 140th China Import and Export Fair, or Canton Fair, opened on Thursday with record shares of new and green products among its exhibits, as 32,000 companies gathered for the three-phase trade show.

Many buyers arrived days before the opening. Among them was Anis Sajan, vice chairman of the Danube Group, a Dubai-based building material company. Eager to visit Chinese supplier partners with his colleague, Sajan was welcomed to an on-site inspection of high-end customized products from a furniture hardware company in Foshan City, China's Guangdong Province, and signed new orders for two containers.

Sajan said he has attended the Canton Fair for more than 20 years. Each time, he makes a point of arriving early to visit suppliers and secure orders.

"Every time I make sure that I come two days before, because during the Canton Fair, the factory will get many orders. And if they get many orders, I will be before the others, so that I can get the shipment soon," he said.

Another popular early factory visit was held by a Shenzhen-based robot company that mainly produces smart barista robots. The company exports to more than 80 countries and regions.

"More than 10 groups of buyers recently visited our factory, with very strong purchasing intent," said Huang Huang, general manager of RobotAnno (Shenzhen).

"We are seeing that RobotAnno is really bringing technology ahead (compared) with the barista that we used to see in our shop. I'm just impressed about the technology advancements here in China. So we wanted also to bring this innovation back to our country," said Isla, a Canadian buyer.

The fair, which marks its 70th anniversary this year, covers 1.55 million square meters and runs through Nov. 4.

More than 11,000 exhibitors are specialized manufacturers or leaders in niche markets. Nearly two-thirds of participating companies have adopted technologies such as artificial intelligence and the industrial internet.

New products make up 23.2 percent of exhibits while green products account for 26 percent, both record shares. The fair is set to host more than 700 product launch events, with the number of products to be unveiled rising 15 percent.

Overseas buyers arrive early to secure orders ahead of 140th Canton Fair

Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Botswana's President Duma Gideon Boko in Beijing on Thursday to discuss relations between their two countries.

At the meeting, Li said China and Botswana enjoy long-standing and profound friendship, recalling that Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Boko on Tuesday, drawing up a new blueprint for deepening bilateral relations.

China is willing to work with Botswana to follow the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, further consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen mutual support, deepen high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, enhance cooperation in mining, digital, green and cultural fields, and jointly promote development and rejuvenation, Li said.

China is also willing to closely unite and collaborate with African countries to implement the outcomes of the 2024 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and inject more impetus into the building of a China-Africa community with a shared future, the Chinese premier said. For his part, Boko said Botswana firmly adheres to the one-China principle and is willing to make good use of the zero-tariff treatment offered by China to expand practical cooperation in various fields such as trade.

Botswana supports the four major global initiatives proposed by Xi -- the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) and the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) -- and is willing to have close multilateral collaboration with China, Boko said.

At the invitation of Xi, Boko is on a state visit to China from Oct 12 to 17.

Chinese premier meets Botswana's president on relations