Buyers talk with an exhibitor at the 126th China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, on Oct 15, 2019. (Photo/Xinhua)

Online event to help unblock supply chains, support economic recovery

The 128th China Import and Export Fair, or the Canton Fair, that will be held online from Oct 15 to Oct 24, will promote the stable and healthy growth of the country's foreign trade under normalized epidemic prevention and control conditions, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

Gao Feng, the ministry's spokesman, said the 10-day online event will help unblock the industrial and supply chains of the country's foreign trade and support the global economic recovery. The government will provide better and convenient services for exhibitors and buyers across the world.

"China welcomes both domestic and global companies to actively participate in the exhibition and sign more deals," Gao said at a regular news briefing.

To ensure steady foreign trade growth in the fourth quarter of this year, the official said the commerce ministry will pay close attention to stabilizing the implementation of foreign trade policies to ensure that they benefit market players and accelerate new business efforts, he said.

In addition to organizing the third China International Import Expo and promoting the innovative development of border trade, Gao said China will actively expand the exports of daily necessities and epidemic prevention materials, as well as deploy more resources and manpower to ensure and control their quality.

Thanks to China's timely resumption of its industrial production and the gradual return of overseas demand, the country saw its foreign trade increase by 6 percent on a yearly basis to 2.88 trillion yuan ($421 billion) in August, with exports surging by 11.6 percent and imports falling by 0.5 percent, according to the latest trade data released by the General Administration of Customs.

In the face of weakening global demand and rising protectionism, China has already introduced a slew of measures to stabilize foreign trade. These include providing financing support to foreign trade firms via various means and further expanded export credit to micro, small and medium-sized foreign trade companies to keep them afloat amid a challenging external environment, said Zhang Yongjun, a researcher at the Beijing-based China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

To maintain solid economic fundamentals, the central government has reiterated that policy measures and fiscal funds should be used to ensure focus remains on the "six priorities" of employment, people's livelihood, development of market entities, food and energy security, stable operation of industrial and supply chains, and smooth functioning at the community level, and to ensure stability in the six areas of employment, finance, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment and market expectations.

Eager to enhance its growth, China FAW Group Corp, the State-owned carmaker, invested 1.4 billion yuan to build an industrial park, that includes spare parts plants and research and development facilities within Changchun International Auto City in Changchun, capital city of Northeast China's Jilin province last month.

Wang Guoqiang, vice-president of FAW Group, said the project is being positioned as the group's core strategic resource in the technology field for intelligent and connected vehicles. It will facilitate the company's future export business.

"Chinese auto brands have made great strides thanks to improved quality and after-sales services, and sometimes they even outperform certain global names," he said, adding the future development trend of the auto industry should be the deep integration and collaborative innovation between traditional automakers and internet companies.

After the completion, the industrial park will produce, among other goods, audio navigation systems, air conditioning controllers and instruments, and onboard display systems.

To minimize the COVID-19 pandemic effect, FAW Group has enhanced contact with domestic and foreign suppliers to coordinate delivery times of various components and ensure normal operations and timely deliveries to both domestic and global customers.