The third China-CEEC Expo & International Consumer Goods Fair will be held in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, from May 16 to 20, 2023. Photo: Courtesy of the expo organizer

 
Purchase orders worth more than 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) for goods from Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) are expected to be placed at the upcoming third China-CEEC Expo & International Consumer Goods Fair in China, an official said on Sunday.

More than 3,000 exhibitors and 10,000 professional purchasers are expected to attend the trade fair, which will be held in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, from Tuesday to Saturday, according to Li Guanding, vice mayor of Ningbo. 

As the only national-level institutional exhibition specifically for Central and Eastern Europe in China, the expo is likely to draw more than 100,000 visits this year, offering more opportunities for CEEC companies to enter the Chinese market and for Chinese firms to explore the CEEC markets, Li said.

The expo will showcase many national brands and distinctive industries of CEECs, with 14 EU geographical indication products making their debuts at this event. The fair will have a section on services trade for the first time, and nine tourism promotion agencies and 22 logistics companies will attend the expo, Li said.

This year's expo has three areas: Central and Eastern Europe Exhibition, International Consumer Goods Exhibition and Imported Commodities Perennial Exhibition, with a total exhibition area of 220,000 square meters, an increase of 20,000 square meters over the last expo.

There are three "firsts" in this exhibition: the first time to open a new venue, the first time to adopt the professional exhibition format, and the first time to open a services trade exhibition zone, Shi Qiqi, deputy director of Zhejiang Province's Commerce Department, said at the conference.

About 290 foreign guests from 12 countries have confirmed their plans to attend the event, including ambassadors and other diplomatic staff from Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Serbia and other countries, Shi said.

China and the CEECs have seen increasingly close economic and trade exchanges in recent years. Since 2012, bilateral trade has grown at an average annual rate of 8.1 percent and China's imports from the CEECs have grown at an average annual rate of 9.2 percent, Li Fei, China's Vice Minister of Commerce, told a press conference on May 5.

China's direct investment in CEECs rose by 148 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year. Major investment areas include auto parts, electric appliances, medicine, logistics, energy, minerals and others.

Global Times