Promotion for Kenya Successfully Held

On June 9th, the 127th session of the Canton Fair launched Promotion event for Kenya.

Present at the video conference are Mr. Guo Ce, Minister Counselor of Economic and Commercial Counsellor's Office of the Chinese Embassy in Kenya, Mr. Zhuang Hong, Deputy Secretary General of Canton Fair and Deputy Director General of China Foreign Trade Centre, Timothy Odongo, head of Kenya Private Enterprises Alliance, Mr. Gao Wei, Managing Director of China Information and Culture Communication Centre (Kenya), and Joyce Muinde Muoti, a regular buyer of the Canton Fair, who all delivered a speech.

According to Mr. Guo Ce, China is one of Kenya's important trade partners and every year many business people come to the Canton Fair to select and source commodities. Due to the novel coronavirus, the 127th session of the Canton Fair would be launched online, which is a great innovative move.

He rolled out the red carpet for Kenya's business people to attend the session and source commodities, contributing to the growth of China-Kenya bilateral trade. The Economic and Commercial Counsellor's Office has gone a long way to introduce and recommend this session through social media and other channels and will be ready to answer the questions from business people.

According to Mr. Zhuang Hong, the Canton Fair, which has gone through a host of reforms and innovations, has been operating uninterruptedly for 63 years. As a gateway for Chinese corporations to hit the overseas market, the Canton Fair has now become China's top platform to facilitate foreign trade, and is often regarded as the barometer for China's foreign trade.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world, the global trade and economy has received a devastating blow. The Canton Fair, taking advantage of the Internet technological innovations, is to launch an exceptional online trade fair featuring special measures for special time.

Mr. Zhuang Hong invited in good faith Kenyan entrepreneurs to take the opportunity to register and look for business opportunities with the hope of promoting the growth of China-Kenya trade and economic cooperation.

Timothy Odongo stated that he is honored to attend the video conference as the representative of Kenyan private entrepreneurs. The online Canton Fair will help Kenyan buyers raise trade efficiency, build a bridge for Chinese and Kenyan entrepreneurs, and create new development opportunities for China-Kenya trade and economic cooperation in the context of the pandemic.

Kenya Private Enterprises Alliance will encourage their member enterprises to attend the Canton Fair, closely follow the latest messages published on the official website of the Canton Fair, specify their sourcing needs, and get to know more exhibitors.

Joyce Muinde Muoti shared her many years of experience in attending the Canton Fair. She stated that it is especially attractive for buyers, because they can raise trade efficiency by communicating with exhibitors face to face.

Moreover, there are numerous new products and each time to the Canton Fair proves to be rewarding. In the 127th Canton Fair that goes online, she is expected to meet exhibitors online and share business opportunities with them through cooperation.

Through video link the staff of China Foreign Trade Centre introduced the function and other characteristics of the online platform of the Canton Fair featuring the theme of "Buyer's Digital Journey to the Canton Fair". Also, they explained in detail how the buyers can post their sourcing needs and submit orders for goods.

This video conference, being both innovative and informative, attracted more than 40 representatives of chambers of commerce, trade associations and buyers from major cities like Nairobi and Mombasa.

China-Kenya trade and economic relations have been excellent. Bilateral trade volume totaled 5.17 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. China is Kenya's biggest trading partner and Kenya is an important participant of China's Belt and Road Initiative. Every session of the Canton Fair receives more than 700 Kenyan buyers.

This promotion meeting will be helpful for buyers from Kenya and other African countries and regions to come to know the main functions and procedures of the online platform. This will make sure that buyers "can log in to locate their desirable commodities and successfully negotiate business deals."