The Canton Fair focuses on trade connections with Belt and Road countries across Asia, Africa and Europe

The China Import and Export Fair has played an important role in promoting business connections with countries and regions along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in the past six decades, according to the fair's organizer.

The event, also known as the Canton Fair in the international business community, has been held in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province since 1957.

It is now the world's largest show for imported and exported commodities.

Based on its deep-rooted connection with countries and regions along the traditional trade routes in the past few decades, the event has become an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative since the Chinese government proposed the projects in 2013.

Since the very beginning, the fair has always paid special attention to Belt and Road-related countries.

According to China Foreign Trade Centre, the organizer of the Canton Fair, eight countries along the trade route - including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Syria - attended the first Canton Fair in 1957, accounting for 42 percent of the total number of participating countries and regions.

Since China began to implement its reform and opening-up initiatives in the late 1970s, and especially since it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, countries along the trade route have significantly benefited from business connections with China and have shown growing enthusiasm for the Canton Fair.

According to CFTC, the number of visitors and exhibitors from Belt and Road countries has averaged 70,000 in the 29 sessions since 2001, with an average growth rate of 3.3 percent. The session-on-session growth of visitor numbers as a whole averaged 1.75 percent. In addition, participants from the Belt and Road countries accounted for more than one-third of the total during the same period.

In recent years, the Canton Fair's organizer has strived to attract participants from Belt and Road countries.

The organizer said they have used various online and social media platforms to attract businesses from those countries.

For instance, they have held 42 online video promotional events for the recent Canton Fairs in 18 countries along the historical trade routes, attracting more than 3,000 businesspeople and nearly 90 local media outlets.

On social media, they have opened an Arabic-language Facebook account for Arabic-speaking customers. They also have an account on VK - a popular social media platform in Russian-speaking regions.

The organizer has used six social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, to publicize the fair's latest information, services and exhibits.

These efforts have paid off.

According to CFTC, the 119th Canton Fair, held in April and May this year, attracted more than 81,000 professional buyers from Belt and Road countries, accounting for about 44 percent of the total.

Jan Henderson, a professional buyer from the United States, attended the 119th fair for the first time this April.

He said he received in-depth information about the event, including information about products, exhibitors and all kinds of services through the Canton Fair's official website and its Facebook account.

"There was already a big show online," he said.

He said when he came to the fair's venue in Guangzhou, he could also see the capabilities brought about by various internet applications.

The organizer said they have taken new initiatives to draw businesses to the 120th Canton Fair, which will be held from Oct 15 to Nov 4.

These measures include cooperation with Chinese diplomatic missions in the Belt and Road countries and local business associations.

The organizer has also partnered with China Southern Airlines and various hotels in Guangzhou to offer preferential treatment to businesspeople from Europe, South America and Africa that are planning to attend the event this autumn.

According to the organizer, about 45 percent of invitations to the 120th Canton Fair have been sent to countries along the Belt and Road trade routes.

As the Canton Fair has greatly boosted trade ties between China and the Belt and Road countries, many local businesses and trade associations have established long-term ties with CFTC in order to assist more local companies to attend the fair.

Businesses from the Belt and Road countries have had increasing enthusiasm for the Canton Fair since its official name was changed from the China Export Commodities Fair to the China Import and Export Fair, and the International Pavilion, a zone dedicated to imported products and services, was established for the first time in 2007.

According to CFTC, nearly 6,000 companies from Belt and Road countries and regions have exhibited their products at the fair since 2007, accounting for 60 percent of the total number of exhibitors.

In addition to exhibition space, the recent Canton Fairs have included a number of forums and meetings for Chinese and overseas businesses, helping Chinese firms to go global and foreign companies to enter the Chinese market.

Zheng Jianbin and Chang Xianghui contributed to the story.

zhaoshijun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/10/2016 page6)