Guizhou entrepreneurs introduce their products to clients in Africa during the 2020 Guiyang Import and Export Online Fair. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
The China-Africa session -- one of the special business promotion events of the 2020 Guiyang Import and Export Online Fair -- was held in Guiyang city in Southwest China's Guizhou province on June 27, according to local officials.
Over 100 entrepreneurs from Guizhou province and Africa attended the online session and signed contracts totaling $6.6 million.
During the session, the Guiyang Free Trade Zone Administrative Committee signed a framework cooperation agreement with the Chinese Entrepreneurs Association of Southern Africa, which Guiyang FTZ officials said laid a solid foundation for more business deals between the province and Africa and served as a bridge between both sides.
Luan Yan, secretary of the Party Working Committee of Guiyang FTZ and director of the Guiyang FTZ Administrative Committee, promoted Guiyang's big data applications, high-tech industry, smart agriculture and transportation infrastructure construction at the session.
He said that Guiyang welcomes entrepreneurs from Africa to come and share in the opportunities resulting from the opening-up of his province.
He said there was a great deal of potential for commerce to be done in multiple fields, channels and forms.
The Guiyang FTZ and the Guian New Area FTZ first started operations in 2014 and 2016, respectively.
Guiyang FTZ officials said the two zones have solid foundations, convenient transportation, complete cross-border e-commerce ecosystems and a favorable policy environment.
They said that as a result, they had made themselves the distribution centers of imported products and demonstration zones of export products in the province.
Through the online communications platform, representatives of Guizhou firms and African buyers delivered speeches and showcased their products. Both sides said they hoped to take this opportunity to jointly build a foreign trade cooperation platform between Guizhou and Africa.
Sindiswa Mzamo, president of the Circle for Global Business Women, said that the fair promoted win-win cooperation between African and Chinese businesses.
"They will explore suitable partners in infrastructure, energy, electricity, construction, agriculture and finance," she said.
The session reportedly was live on several mainstream media online platforms and achieved 2.15 million views at home and abroad.
Zhao Yandi contributed to the story.