State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism Press Conference: Introduction to the 127th Canton Fair

On the afternoon of April 10th, the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism held a press conference on measures related to stabilizing foreign trade. Assistant Minister of Commerce Ren Hongbin introduced the relevant situation of the 127th Canton Fair at the press conference. Director of the Foreign Trade Department, Li Xingqian, answered the reporter's question about "how will the 127th Canton Fair be held for the first time online? What are the main contents?".

Ren Hongbin stated that since its establishment in 1957, the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, has always received high attention and warm care from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, and has gone through storms without interruption. After more than 60 years of unremitting efforts, the Canton Fair has become the longest, largest, most comprehensive international trade event in China's history, with the most products, the most merchants, and the best transaction results. It is known as the "barometer" and "wind vane" of China's foreign trade. As usual, the Spring Canton Fair opens on April 15th every year. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, the Ministry of Commerce and the People's Government of Guangdong Province have, on the one hand, made preparations for the 127th Canton Fair as planned, on the other hand, closely followed the situation, thoroughly studied and judged the impact, and studied countermeasures according to the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council.   On April 7th, the Executive Meeting of the State Council decided to hold the 127th Canton Fair online in mid to late June.

The 127th Canton Fair innovatively proposed to replace physical exhibitions with online exhibitions, which is not only a practical measure to cope with the epidemic, but also a major measure for innovative development. This year's online Canton Fair will mainly include three parts: online display docking platform, cross-border e-commerce zone, and live marketing services, continuing to leverage the advantages of trade exhibitions. Focusing on B2B and taking into account some B2C platforms, we aim to create a 10X24 hour all-weather online foreign trade platform, providing exhibitors and buyers with online promotion, supply and procurement coordination, online negotiations and other services, allowing domestic and foreign merchants to place orders and do business without leaving their homes. We also sincerely invite enterprises and merchants at home and abroad to participate in the 127th Canton Fair to experience the innovative integration of China's oldest trade event and Internet technology, smooth trade exchanges, work together to deal with the epidemic, send a strong signal, and jointly make positive contributions to the stability of world economy and trade.

Li Xingqian said when answering questions from reporters that the Internet is connecting thousands of families and is profoundly changing our production and life. Bringing over 120 consecutive global trade events, which have been held for over 60 years, to the cloud is a practical initiative. The world-renowned Canton Fair, which has moved from physical exhibition halls to the internet, is not just a simple replication, but a brand new structural design and process reengineering. In terms of content, you will see that the Canton Fair held online in mid to late June will present three interactive sections, integrating display docking, negotiation, and trading.

One is to establish an online display docking platform. We will promote the online display of all 25000 participating companies in the Canton Fair, and divide them into export exhibitions and import exhibitions according to the familiar original physical exhibition settings, with corresponding exhibition areas set up. Among them, export exhibitions are divided into 16 categories of goods, including electronic appliances, daily consumer goods, textile and clothing, and medical and health care, with 50 exhibition areas set up respectively; The import exhibition will feature six main themes, including electronic appliances, building materials and hardware, and all exhibits will be launched simultaneously. We will optimize the query system and improve the search function in multiple languages to facilitate buyers in finding exhibitors and exhibits. Through technical means, focus on promoting Chinese brand enterprises and products. At the same time, we will strengthen supply and procurement coordination services, hold specialized coordination activities online, increase online matchmaking efforts, and improve the effectiveness of exhibitions.

The second is to establish a cross-border e-commerce zone. We will hold an event with the theme of "Synchronizing the Canton Fair and Global Enjoying Business Opportunities". By establishing exchange links and following the unified name and image formulated by the Canton Fair, we will carry out online business activities at a unified time. This mainly includes two parts: first, setting up a cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone, promoting the work of each pilot zone, and promoting a group of cross-border e-commerce brand enterprises. The second is to select a group of cross-border e-commerce platforms based on merit, highlighting the trade exhibition characteristics of "enterprise to enterprise". Mainly through cooperation with B2B platforms, while also taking into account some B2C platforms, we encourage the platform to organize various types of enterprises that meet quality standards to participate in this Canton Fair and expand the range of beneficiary enterprises.

The third is to provide live streaming marketing services. We will establish an online live streaming column and link, and set up a separate 10x24 24-hour online live streaming room for each participating enterprise. This live streaming room is not limited by time and space. Enterprises can have separate face-to-face negotiations with customers online, or promote and advertise to a large number of customers through online live streaming. Before the exhibition, we will provide specialized training to enterprises to enhance their live sales capabilities. In addition, our platform will also provide functions such as on-demand viewing, video uploading, interactive communication, and sharing to enrich the presentation of the exhibition.

We will actively mobilize all parties to improve our technological level, expand the scope of benefiting enterprises, improve supporting services, enhance the online experience of enterprises and merchants, and strive to hold a special period, special significance, special measures, and particularly exciting "Online Canton Fair". Welcome everyone to follow us then.