Four years on, intl expo provides greater stage for global businesses

CP Group has attended all four expos. The Thai corporation this year brought with it more products than it did in 2023, including snacks, poultry, coffee, tea and wine.

"We hope that when people mention Thailand, they will not only think of all kinds of daily necessities, but also more Thai food," said Bu Mengxuan, who works for the group.

Alongside their expanding spending power, Chinese consumers are now more interested in high-quality products, Bu said, and the group's products meet the demand of the Chinese consumer market, which also brings benefits to the entire industrial chain.

China has been Thailand's largest trading partner for many years. Statistics show that in 2023, the total trade volume between China and Thailand was $126.3 billion, and the direct investment of Chinese enterprises in Thailand totaled $4.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 109 percent.

As the guest of honor at this year's expo, Ireland made use of its 500-square-meter national pavilion to showcase whiskey distilleries, a barn market, a golf experience zone, a fashion and culture gallery, and other attractions.

In the Irish pavilion, David Wang, managing director of Haisi Food Co Ltd, signed contracts totaling 358 million yuan with business partners from China's Liaoning and Guangdong provinces.

The Haikou-based joint venture has a total investment of 500 million yuan and was established last year to engage in husbandry byproduct processing. It is expected to begin operations within the year, providing some 5,000 jobs once fully operational.

"We have made deals with our parent company in Ireland to import materials there and process them into pre-prepared foods such as beef tripe and chicken feet," he said, adding that the company has already received orders for its first batch of products.

Derek Lambe, economic counsellor at the Embassy of Ireland to China, said the expo is a valuable platform to facilitate people-to-people contact, through which partnerships and links are established, and this can help improve trade and investment.

Global trade and investment are win-win for everybody concerned, he said.