Huizhou's Africa fair charts future course

The authorities in Huizhou, Guangdong province, will hold a commodity exhibition fair in Johannesburg, South Africa in November to promote trade and economic cooperation with African countries.

"Organizing the trade event is part of our efforts to develop the business potential in the emerging markets in Africa, as we are facilitating ties with countries situated along the ancient Maritime Silk Road," said Wang Guangjun, director of the local foreign trade and economic cooperation authority.

"We hope more African people know better about products made in Huizhou," Wang said. "We also hope to import more products from Africa to Huizhou as boosted imports will help facilitate healthy bilateral business ties."

According to Wang, more than 40 local companies have confirmed participation and the products to be showcased include electronics, solar energy, LED, garments and art and crafts.

Companies based in Huizhou have also been encouraged to invest overseas, especially in countries along the Maritime Silk Road, he said.

And three local companies have directly invested in production as well as R&D facilities in the region, Wang said.

Huang Yanhang, publicity chief of Huizhou, said the city would help strengthen trade ties with African countries, which will provide agriculture and mineral products to local manufacturers.

"Products made in Huizhou are of good quality and high technology, which will well meet the market demand in Africa," she said.

Huizhou is in a favorable position to play a dynamic role in the nation's strategy to carry out the new version of trade route, Mai Jiaomeng, mayor of Huizhou, told reporters from countries situated along the Maritime Silk Road during a recent media briefing.

"We will take the initiative to strengthen co-operative ties with the countries and regions along the route in such fields as shipping courses, industrial development, trade, investment, culture and tourism and build the city, especially its pan-Daya Bay new district, into a bridgehead of the new trade route," noted Mai.

The mayor said that the city has developed many facilities and industrial clusters to get involved in the development of the new trade route.

Citing as examples, he said, the Huizhou Port, with 40 berths in operation, has developed a handling capacity of more than 100 million tons and opened several international container routes.

The city has also developed two pillar industries of electronic information and petrochemicals. Leading companies of TCL, Desay, Foryou, Cree and Samsung have enabled the city's high-end electronic information industry to cluster and output value of the city's LED industry totaled more than 30 billion yuan ($4.87 billion) in 2013.

And its petrochemical industry, with 160 billion yuan worth of capital inputs in about 80 projects, boasts an industrial scale of over 150 billion yuan annually.

The mayor said that Huizhou's rich tourism resources and the city's efforts to improve the infrastructure for the tourism industry will lay a solid foundation for further co-operations with the countries and regions along the Maritime Silk Road, adding that the 800,000 overseas Chinese of Huizhou origin in the Southeast Asian countries will become a plus for all the city's efforts.

qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn