Information Session on China International Import Expo Held in Canberra

On April 9th, the information session on China International Import Expo （CIIE）took place in Canberra Office of Meyer Vandenberg Lawyers. The event was hosted by the China Australia Trade and Investment Council, in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy and ACT government. Some 100 representatives of government, business, academic and Chinese communities attended the conference.

Mr. Archie Tsirimokos, Chairman of IVI and partner of MV lawyers gave a welcome address. Minister Counsellor Rengang Huang of the Chinese Embassy highlighted the importance of CIIE and the broad prospect of bilateral business ties. His colleague Ms Shi Wang elaborated on the specific arrangements of the expo and provided useful information on why and how to participate in the 1st session of CIIE to be held in Shanghai 5-10 November.

“The Expo consists of two parts: Country Pavilion and Business Exhibition. The country pavilion is designed for related countries and regions to showcase their development achievements in trade and investment, as well as representative products. ” Shi Wang, a diplomat from the  Economic and Commercial Section of the Chinese Embassy in Australia, explained in detail, “Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steve Ciobo has announced that he would lead a senior business delegation to attend the Expo.”

(Brendan Smyth, ACT Commissioner for International Engagement)

Mr. Brendan Smyth, ACT Commissioner for International Engagement delivered a speech to stress that “China is one of our top five priority markets. Chinese President Xi Jinping had personally announced the CIIE, and companies need to grab this great opportunity, for your products and services would be made available to 150, 000 buyers there.”

President Pan White of China Australia Trade and Investment Council (CATIC) then gave a keynote presentation. She talked about the enormous potential of the Chinese economy and vast opportunities to Australian businesses brought by the expanding middle class in China and the scheduled CIIE. CATIC has the expertise and resources to faciliate the process of doing business with China.

(Pan White, President of China Australia Trade and Investment Council)

Founded in 2015, CATIC is a non-profit organization based in Canberra that facilitates business opportunities between China and Australia through delegations, events and support services. In March 2017, it became the Overseas Satellite Network of Invest Shenzhen. CATIC is the only organization having this status by far in Australia and South Pacific region. In the past three years, CATIC has led and hosted numerous delegations and events both inbound and outbound with the purpose to deliver better understanding and access opportunities to the Chinese market. “We are very honored to host the information session and promote the 1st China International Import Expo,” says Ms. White, “This is an important message sending to the rest of the world that China is ready to buy. We cannot miss this signal.”

Ms. Robyn Hendry, CEO of Canberra Business Chamber addressed the information session: “Last year saw 4.5 percent growth of private businesses in ACT, which is a really positive trend.The exports of ACT have been growing over the past five years on average about 7.6 percent.”  She pointed out that more business engagement with China is an emerging trend and Chinese is the second common language spoken in ACT.

(Robyn Hendry, CEO of Canberra Business Chamber)

 Graeme Shaw, Managing Director of Shaw Vineyard Estate shared his experience of doing business with China: “Chinese market is  competitive in general and only quality products can sell well. CIIE is a good opportunity for the people who are not familiar with Chinese market, for it provides a big new platform to gain access to local markets.”

 

(Graeme Shaw, Managing Director of Shaw Vineyard Estate)

The Information Session hosted by CATIC turned out to be a complete  success, and the Master of Ceremony Mr. Nicholas Scotton contributed to it by moderating the event in a professional manner. After the keynote speeches, the participants had lively networking activities to further exchange views on CIIE and deepen mutual understanding through question-answer interactions.

 (Article by Lei Zhang)