First European cross-border e-commerce forum held in Belgium

LIEGE, Belgium - The first edition of the European Cross-Border E-Commerce Forum (EU CBEC Forum) is being held in the Belgian city of Liege on Wednesday.

The two-day forum, organized by the Wallonia Export-Investment Agency (AWEX) in collaboration with Cifnews, a one-stop service platform for Chinese cross-border e-commerce, aimed at looking at the future shape of cross-border e-commerce and how to take advantage of opportunities for Europe, China and Asia.

"E-commerce between China and Europe is booming, trading at around $63 billion. With new developments in logistics infrastructure, China's e-commerce giant Alibaba's Cainiao has chosen Liege Airport in central Belgium to develop its first European hub for e-commerce," said Michel Kempeneers, COO Overseas-Wallonia Export-Investment Agency, during the opening ceremony on Wednesday.

"Thanks to this breakthrough, technological products from China can streamline into Europe and return back to China loaded with European cargo, either by flight or through the seaport of Antwerp or Rotterdam. This is the way to have a win-win and reciprocal partnership built on new and innovative ways of doing business," he said.

"Just like in China, we are trying to push forward new marketing methods and shopping trends. Today, we take this opportunity to promote this new trend to individuals and businesses and teach them how to drive global sales through e-commerce platforms, online platforms such as live streaming, and key opinion leaders (KOL)," concluded Kempeneers.

Zhao Ken, Vice-President of Cifnews, told Xinhua that: "Cross-border e-commerce trends have hugely developed in China in recent years, and Europe is the region we are all looking at. The purpose of this event is to connect cross-border e-commerce in China and Europe in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative."

During the two-day forum, more than 150 representatives from EU institutions, industry associations and Chinese and EU companies are discussing the new trends in e-commerce in China, the new situation of e-commerce in Europe and the legal challenges of cross-border e-commerce etc.

The EU CBEC Forum hopes to become the first and most prominent platform in Europe where all the players can meet and exchange ideas, find new partners, share experiences and grow their network in this fast-changing global environment.

"At the moment, cross-border e-commerce is developing very fast, and China is Europe's and Russia's biggest market. Last year, the number of parcels we sent from China to Russia was over 1 million per day. So the potential is very huge," said Anastasia Kovaleva, head of China office at the Ecommerce Russia Association.

"Right now, the problem is that European sellers don't have many possibilities to sell abroad, especially to Asia. However, through global platforms such as Alibaba, there will be greater scope for businesses to trade on Asian markets," she said.