Chongqing Expands Trade with Belt and Road Countries

The 2020 Chongqing Export Commodities Online Matching was held on December 3, sponsored by Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Chongqing Committee.

The 2020 Chongqing Export Commodities Online Matching was held on December 3. (Picture provided by the organizer)

The Meeting aimed to expand further the trade and economic cooperation between Chongqing and countries (regions) along the Belt and Road, respond to adverse impact on exporters by COVID-19, and build a relevant online platform for Chongqing and Asian companies.

The event lasted two days, while 66 importers and exporters engaging in automobile/motorcycle parts and agricultural machinery from Chongqing and nearly 80 foreign buyers from Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, etc., carried out 250 one-on-one trade negotiations and product exhibitions on ZOOM.

Attending companies from Chongqing included Chongqing Sokon Import and Export Co., Ltd., Chongqing Zongshen General Power Machine Co., Ltd., Chongqing Lifan Industry (Group) Import And Export Co., Ltd., and Loncin Motor Co., Ltd.

The previous face-to-face communication in foreign trade has been replaced by the screen-to-screen one, helping by the Internet, cloud videos, big data, and other modern information technologies.

According to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Chongqing Committee, it confirmed the export products provided by Chongqing companies and the demand for overseas buyers and then precisely matched suppliers and buyers.

Chinese and foreign companies, divided into different groups in advance, participated in one-on-one negotiations at different periods in the sessions for automobile/motorcycle parts and agricultural machinery, respectively.

To further smooth communication channels, Chongqing offered better technical support to the cloud platform. As a result, the matching meeting got satisfying results.

Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Chongqing Committee will deepen the collaboration and communication with commerce departments and trade & economic promotion institutions in other countries via online and offline channels.

For example, they plan to widen the opening channels, build cooperation platforms, and support companies to obtain win-win results and grow together.

Recently, Chongqing has been weaving itself into the Belt and Road's joint construction and accelerating its steps to grow into an exemplary city of opening-up in inland China. It has obtained substantial developments in promoting an open economy.

From January to October 2020, Chongqing realized 522.76 billion yuan (about 79.982 billion U.S. dollars) worth of imports and exports, accounting for over 90% of last year's total value foreign trade.

As a base of China's modern manufacturing industry, Chongqing shaped a fully-fledged information technology industrial system in such fields as automobile, motorcycle, and general machinery. It also has established a solid foundation for cooperation with Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and other ASEAN countries, which has a promising future.

In 2019, ASEAN became the top trade partner of the city, and Chongqing's imports and exports to ASEAN totaled 108.67 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43.2%.

The Belt and Road Initiative is carried out more thoroughly, and such international logistics channels as China Railway Express (Chongqing) and New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor run smoothly. These lead to the increasingly deep collaboration between Chongqing and Asian countries and continuously expanding trade and two-way investment.

Specifically, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is expected to bring Chongqing into another round of high-level opening-up and introduce new opportunities for cooperation between Chongqing and ASEAN and countries (regions) along the Belt and Road.