China-SCO online shopping festival sees nearly $16m of sales

BEIJING - A series of e-commerce livestreaming events featuring goods from Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members has seen nearly 100 million yuan ($15.78 million) in sales of goods, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Kicked off on Jan 10, nearly 1,800 livestreaming events have been held, with over 4 million viewers participated, said Gao Feng, a spokesperson with the ministry at a press conference on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,500 categories of featured products from the countries were on sale, with 14 envoys from SCO member states taking part in the online shopping festival and introducing their countries' New-Year traditions to Chinese viewers.

The events are set to advance a five-year goal of achieving $2.3 trillion of China-SCO trade volume, and have effectively enhanced the visibility and market influence of goods from SCO countries in China, Gao said.

China's trade with other member states of the SCO hit a record high of $343.1 billion in 2021, jumping 40 percent from the previous year, said the spokesperson.

The SCO member states consist of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan.