China has rolled out more measures to protect foreign trade entities and keep supply chains stable against the economic fallout of the unabated Covid-19 pandemic, according to guidelines released by the State Council.
China will step up credit support to foreign trade firms, especially micro, small and medium ones, and extend financial support to major foreign-funded companies, which are eligible for the low-cost re-lending and rediscount quota, said the State Council.
More efforts will be made to help foreign trade firms expand clientele, as well as to improve trade facilities and services, including cross-border e-commerce platforms, cross-border logistics and overseas warehouses.
To facilitate trade flow and travel, China will add more flights with its major source countries of investment while increasing the total amount of international passenger flights in a phased manner on the condition that Covid-19 risks are prevented.
The guidelines also urged more support to hi-tech industries, stressing the need to encourage foreign investors to invest in the sector.
Belt and Road Initiative
The 2020 China International Fair for Investment & Trade (CIFIT) and the Belt and Road Investment Congress will kick off on September 8, as scheduled, in Xiamen, east China’s Fujian Province.
The pavilions featuring investment and industry promotion will cover an exhibition area of about 110,000 square meters, with 16 specialized display zones, the Fujian provincial government said at a press conference.
The scale of offline activities, however, will be controlled due to epidemic prevention and control requirements.
Currently, a total of 209 merchant groups have planned to attend the exhibition, with exhibitors from 35 countries and regions, including Britain, Germany, Japan and the Republic of Korea, making clear their intention to participate in the event.
This year’s fair will focus on themes including new infrastructure, the digital economy and scientific and technological innovation, said Lin Jian, deputy mayor of Xiamen.
There will be an industrial internet innovation and development conference, as well as high-tech, smart-city and fintech exhibitions to display new technologies and products, Lin said.
Meanwhile, the fair will hold a series of forums on the latest global economic development trends within the context of epidemic prevention and control.
Exhibition industry
The south China city of Guangzhou has seen a full recovery of the exhibition industry, following a disruption caused by the Covid-19 epidemic in the first half of this year.
From the beginning of July to August 11, the city’s exhibition area of Pazhou hosted 36 exhibitions, with a total exhibition area of 900,000 square meters, according to the municipal bureau of commerce. The events drew about 700,000 exhibitors and visitors.
The exhibitions covered fields from building decoration, biomedical equipment, industrial automation, automobiles, environmental protection to cultural tourism and leisure and entertainment, providing procurement, exchange and cooperation platforms for the real economy.
The restart of the exhibition industry has spurred the city’s hotel industry and comprehensive consumption, according to the bureau.
Guangzhou held 690 exhibitions in 2019, with a total exhibition area of 10.24 million square meters, both ranking second among Chinese cities.
However, the city’s exhibition industry ground to a halt at the end of January due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic. A total of 112 exhibitions originally planned between February and June had to be postponed or canceled.
In June, the 127th Canton Fair, China’s largest export fair held in Guangzhou, moved online for the first time.
Company news
Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Ltd inaugurated early this week its annual program of “Seeds for the Future 2020 in Bangladesh” to develop local information and communications technology (ICT) talent and the thorough transfer of knowledge.
The program mainly focuses on bridging the gap between academic and industry knowledge. Selected participants can get insights into the latest developments in the global ICT industry and get the opportunity to enhance their ICT expertise and skills. The program is also a long-term corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity dedicated to the top STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and ICT students worldwide.
In Bangladesh, students from a number of leading universities will be participating in the program this year. The selected students will be attending a five-day online program of cultural and technological training from the Huawei Headquarters of China (Beijing and Shenzhen).
The stories were written by Yang Zhijie and Liu Licong, and first published at ATimesCN.com. It was translated by Nadeem Xu.