A view of the offline 130th Canton Fair in October 2021. Photo: Chi Jingyi/GT

The biannual China Import and Export Fair, commonly known as the Canton Fair, convened both homegrown and multinational brands during its latest online-only session that officially began on Friday.

In a sign of the online trade fervor, a virtual promotional campaign called Trade Bridge that acts as a vanguard of the Canton Fair has already shown to be productive. The campaign, comprised of 50 promotion activities, started on April 7. 

It aims for matchmakings between a host of domestic firms in the spheres of household appliances, construction materials, home items, suitcases and toys, and large multinationals such as French retailer Auchan, Finnish retailing conglomerate Kesko Oyj, Spanish home appliance brand Taurus, and Indonesian Kawan Lama Group, the event organizer told the Global Times on Friday.

Thus far, 23 promotional activities have been held, covering more than 10 provinces and cities and are reaching out to 26 countries and regions globally. 

The online platform for the latest session has become more stable and convenient in facilitating cloud-based dealings. 

In a statement sent to the Global Times on Friday, Tencent said the online platform for the ongoing session is more stable, sporting higher system operation efficiency and quick response to user demand changes. The platform could effectively lower network delays for domestic and overseas visits. 

The Chinese internet giant has provided the Canton Fair with overall technological support, platform research and development services and cloud resources for a third consecutive year.

The online platform is more interactive, with the addition of buyer information authorization functionality that enables authorized exhibitors to browse buyers' information, send business cards and start instant chats, Shu Jueting, spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce, told reporters on Thursday. 

Global Times