Entrepreneurs encouraged to go global amid China's optimized COVID-19 response

HEFEI -- A training activity was held on Wednesday in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province, as a warm-up before the local enterprises start their overseas trips to seek business opportunities under government support.

According to the Anhui provincial department of commerce, 119 people from 54 enterprises will make their business trips overseas to visit potential clients and seek cooperation starting from Wednesday to the end of this year.

The department will also fly a chartered plane to send a business delegation with representatives from over 50 local enterprises to Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Dec 25, part of Anhui's efforts to expand its overseas market and boost international trade.

According to Liu Guang, deputy director of the provincial commerce department, the activities are all under the province's trade promotion campaign, aiming to attract more business orders and foreign investment. Apart from online and offline exhibitions, Anhui will also hold over 100 investment promotion activities abroad in 2023 to bring in major foreign investment projects.

"We will organize special promotion activities in countries and regions including Germany, Britain, and ROK, where our local businesses can communicate and cooperate with enterprises from industries including new energy vehicles, smart household appliances, and semiconductors," said Liu.

Since China announced a new set of measures to optimize its COVID-19 response, Anhui's commerce department has sent 58 people from 18 enterprises to attend activities, including exhibitions and business negotiations in 19 countries. And their joint efforts have borne fruit in fields of multiple industries, from material development and research, biotechnology, construction, and manufacturing, to wholesale and retail.

Chen Xiaojun, chairman of Nuntius Bonded Logistics Center Co., Ltd (Anhui), and his assistant, Shen Tubo, have stepped onto their busy trips in Europe since Dec. 8.

"We have talked about businesses including cross-border e-commerce, the establishment of overseas warehouses, and suitcase orders with several partners in countries including Belgium and the Netherlands. We are making positive progress in cooperation," said Chen.

Likewise, Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share Co Ltd participated in some industrial exhibitions held in Paris and Dubai, which helped the company receive tentative orders worth about $5 million. AHCOF International Development Co Ltd attended an international packaging exhibition in France and has won multiple orders from its new and old clients.

"One face-to-face greeting sometimes is much better than thousands of emails. We hope that our entrepreneurs can seize the day and reach their clients in advance. Only by 'going out,' can new clients, new orders, and new chances show up," said Fang Xu, director of the provincial commerce department, during the warm-up training.