Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang Province is moving the promotions for the China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) online this year, aiming to promote trade relations between China and the region despite facing supply chain difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CEEC Products Online Fair 2020 began on Monday and will continue until June 14, with eight meetings arranged between international suppliers and customers to further facilitate their business discussions. 

The expo consists of food and beverage products, daily household goods and cosmetics, high-tech products such as fiber optic products from countries like Latvia, and software for unmanned aerial vehicles, from all around the greater region.

"We believe business and trade need to be more innovative during times of crisis," said Zhang Yan, director of the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce, noting that Ningbo is trying to improve its industrial offerings in a time when the industrial supply chain around the world is restructuring itself.

In 2020, it will be the first time that the city has attempted to move the expo online, mainly due to the impacts of the pandemic. Over 500 companies and 2,000 purchasers have attended this online fair, while it will provide year-round services by integrating a variety functions that include simplified purchasing, targeted matching, and communication and information exchange, according to the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce.

The first China-CEEC Expo & International Consumer Goods Fair was held in Ningbo during June 2019, and witnessed the procuring of transactions worth $296 million; however, this year's expo was originally postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As part of the expo's promotions, a total of 10 diplomats from Central and Eastern European countries including Serbia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Slovakia participated in a livestreaming event aimed to promote products from each of their own countries.

"We noticed that people's shopping habits have changed as a result of the pandemic; that is, people are more inclined to shop via livestreams, which is a great opportunity for businesses to promote regional products in a more interactive way," Szilard Bolla, Consul General of Hungary in Shanghai, told the Global Times on Wednesday, noting that his country's most popular products include wine and health products.

Richard Krpac, Consul General of the Czech Republic in Shanghai, another participant of the livestream event, appraised the event as an "excellent way" to connect with Chinese customers in an efficient and direct way, and said "we will see the results of this event almost immediately."

Krpac also mentioned that international supply chains have been interrupted as a result of the pandemic, "there were several months when trade and production in both countries were not where we normally would have liked it; however, holding events like this proves that everything is slowly getting back to normal," he noted. 

Krpac noted they have been preparing for the upcoming third China International Import Expo (CIIE), which is scheduled for November in Shanghai, with at least 40 companies from the Czech Republic expected to attend, while the country will also set up a national pavilion at the event.

China and the CEEC have become important partners under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The relations between the European countries and China have become closer during the pandemic, as both sides make joint efforts to combat COVID-19, Bolla said, noting that the biggest challenges now are to "open up and free the logistical channels" and put the confidence back into trade, business and tourism. 

Kostadin Djatev, Commercial Consul of the Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria in Shanghai, also agreed that cooperation between all countries should be paramount, "when we are united, we are stronger," he noted.

Djatev hopes that face-to-face exchanges between Chinese and Bulgarians, which is of great importance for bilateral relations, could be recovered soon as countries recover from COVID-19.

"Bulgaria is quite famous for the clean environment, food and agriculture and we would like to let Chinese people know more of Bulgaria," Djatev said, adding that the country can offer more exotic traveling experiences that Chinese people are looking for.

As opportunities to connect with the CEEC become more frequent, trade between Ningbo and the CEEC reached 28.5 billion yuan ($4 billion) in 2019, an increase of 8.4 percent year-on-year, according to the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce.

Since 2014, the city has aimed to promote trade and economic cooperation with the CEEC, and was home to China's first "16+1" Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Zone in 2018, which was revamped into the "17+1" Cooperation Demonstration Zone, under the framework of cooperation between China and CEEC.