Kunming Fair Promotes Yunnan for Trade Development

As the capital city of Yunnan province in south-western China, as well as being the largest city of the region, Kunming hosted the 19th China Kunming Import & Export Commodities Fair along with the 4th South Asian Nations Trade Fair on 6-7 June. The venue for the massive trade show, which featured more than 3,000 exhibition stands from South Asian nations including Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar, was the Kunming International Convention Center.

At the opening ceremony on the evening of June 5, 2011, influential State Councilor Dai Bingguo delivered a speech expressing his congratulations to the organizers of the event, noting that China will actively support the role of peaceful development in the region and that the development of China’s trade relationships will open up opportunities for surrounding nations. Yunnan province is the gateway between China and south/south-east and Asia, making its capital city of Kunming the best choice for hosting an event of this magnitude with the purpose of strengthening trade ties within the region. Dai Bingguo went on to stress the importance of friendly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation in the interests of promoting a common goal of prosperity and development, which ultimately will benefit the people.

The 19th China Kunming Import and Export Commodities Fair (Kunming Fair) and the 4th South Asian Countries Trade Fair provides a platform for business-to-business networking, negotiating new business relationships and strengthening existing ties. In addition to the networking aspect of the event, activities benefiting attendees included the introduction of Projects Southwest to ASEAN Overseas Chinese Investors; the Greater Mekong Sub-Regional Economic Corridor Week; the South-east/South Asia Television Arts Week and the Asia-Pacific Chinese Entrepreneurs Forum.

As the holder of the rotating presidency of the China-South Asia Business Forum, Sri Lanka had 100 exhibition stands promoting the country’s resources, including gem and jewelry collections and traditional crafts. Sri Lankan Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne, acting Ambassador of Sri Lanka in China K.D.S. Ruwanchandra, and Sri Lanka’s Export Development Board Chairman Janaka Raynayake were among the dignitaries attending the event.

While Yunnan authorities may agree that the province has fallen behind the rapid development of business centers Beijing and Shanghai, they also make it clear that they are up to the task of catching up and putting the province on the China trade relations map.