Canton Fair assists industrial poverty alleviation of poor areas

At the concluding press conference of the 125th Canton Fair, Xu Bing, Vice Secretary General and spokesperson of Canton Fair, Deputy Director General of China Foreign Trade Centre, introduced achievements made in driving poverty alleviation through business development.

Xu said that the Ministry of Commerce has been committed to implementing the central government’s strategic planning of poverty alleviation and considered poverty alleviation by business development one of the eight action plans of the Ministry. Poverty reduction at Canton Fair is a proposal made by the Ministry and a meticulous measure. During the 125 session, we’ve taken pragmatic measures to deepen poverty reduction by business. We welcomed 770 exhibitors (accumulatively) from poor areas, covering 15 product categories and 45 sections; we exempted booth fee of nearly 179 million Yuan. These exhibitors witnessed remarkable result: 45.4% increase of their transactions. We also held thematic promotion event for poor areas; and 58 companies from 16 provinces and cities demonstrated their feature products and corporate capacity through display, runway show, taste tour, etc. Many of these exhibitors signed big orders onsite.

Xu stated that since Canton Fair started to conduct poverty alleviation measures in 122nd session, we’ve canceled and reduced booth fee of over 670 million Yuan for 2784 exhibitors/times from poor areas, which significantly reduced the cost of participating in the show. 685 exhibitors participated in the Traditional Chinese Specialty section for free. The accumulated transaction achieved by exhibitors from poor areas amounts to over 1 billion USD. 96% of exhibitors wish to participate again. These measures have promoted employment and economic growth of poor areas.

Expands new channel and builds new platform for targeted poverty alleviation of poor areas. Based on summarizing past experience of poverty reduction, we set up the Traditional Chinese Specialty section at Canton Fair for exhibitors from poor areas to display their advantageous products. This has built a bridge for poor areas to connect to the world market and provided new channel for exhibitors from these areas.

Assists exhibitors develop international market. Through Canton Fair, exhibitors from poor areas learnt demands of the international market and industrial trend, and broadened their horizon. Via trade matchmaking, they’ve met customers, signed orders, built marketing network and expanded market space. One company signed an order of 600000 Yuan with a Canadian buyer during its first participation. Another tea company from Guizhou signed an order of 8 million Yuan with a French buyer during its debut.

Drives industrial poverty alleviation. These exhibitors come from 331 poverty stricken counties, covering tea and beverage, food, shoes, garment, cases, household items, daily products, medicine and healthcare, sport and leisure industries. They’ve gained export order, expanded export and built long term relationship with overseas customers. A targeted industrial poverty alleviation model has formed, with the characteristic of foreign trade and leading companies becoming the driving force. It has accelerated the process of poverty stricken population increasing their income and stepping out of poverty. One chestnut company from Hubei Province obtained a 6 million Yuan order in the 122 Canton Fair; it has been working with its customer till present. Moreover, the company hired more than 80 local people and lifted 69 households out of poverty through the model of “company+ base+ household”.

Xu said that targeted poverty alleviation is one of “3 hard battles” confirmed by the 19th CPC Congress. In the future, we will implement central government’s planning on poverty reduction, fulfill our responsibility of winning the hard battle and roll out more pragmatic and practical action, to make our contribution to building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and to achieving the first centenary goal. 

 (Canton Fair Press Center)