China opens biannual large trade fair with hope despite financial crisis | ||||||||||
2009-04-15 21:32 | ||||||||||
The 105th China Import and Export Fair opened Wednesday, April 15 in GUANGZHOU, capital city of southern China's Guangdong Province, with a backdrop of economic slowdown caused by the international financial turmoil, but it did not dampen confidence and hope among participants. The eye-catching barometer of China's external trade, the biannual event, also known as Canton Fair, is to be held in three phases. The first will be held between April 15 and 19, the second from April 24 to 28, and the third from May 3 to 7. The number of attendees is down to 22,104 -- 237 fewer than last year, partly because of the expanding economic downturn. The total included 8,000 buyers from 48 purchase teams. Some 395 companies from 36 countries, including 12 from five less-developed countries, would be exhibited in the import section, the organizers said.
Despite the financial crisis, "we are still confident in our own brand. The customers we attracted over the past four years are loyal and reliable, and and orders from Europe remain stable," Fang Jiaqing, international sales manager with Zhongji Export LLC based in southwestern Sichuan Province, told Xinhua Wednesday. The company sells diving pumps and motors mainly to European nations, including Germany, Britain and Denmark. Fang said his company wanted to woo some clients from the Middle East at the fair.
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