Pudong trade platforms ready for expo

Pudong, which spearhead the city’s reform and opening up, has stepped up efforts to improve its environment and business ambiance to ensure the success of the upcoming import expo,

At a press conference yesterday, city and district officials spoke of their preparations and expectations for the China International Import Expo, to be held from November 5 to 10 in the National Exhibition and Convention Center, Minhang District.

The Pudong New Area will play a very important role in the trade gala as more than 60 percent of the city foreign trade passes through the area, said Liu Fuxue, deputy director of the expo bureau.

With 60 days to go until the start of the expo, Pudong his ready, said Feng Wei, deputy Pudong Party chief. Across the city, there are 30 year-round exhibition and transaction platforms, and 13 of them, in fields including high-end equipment, cars and medical robot, are in Pudong, he added.

The platforms, including cross-border e-commerce sites and exhibition centers, were set up by Shanghai commerce commission to extend the influence of the expo.

Exhibitors and buyers will come from all over the world tin search of business opportunities, and six days is just not enough time. These platforms will provide access to Chinese market and promote sustainable business cooperation after the expo ends, said Shang Yuying, director of the commerce commission

Eight of the 13 platforms in Pudong are located in the Waigaoqiao bonded area.

They feature three commodity exhibition centers, which display items from Chile, Australia and 16 countries in central and eastern Asia, and five professional trading platforms in the trade of smart manufacturing, motor vehicle, liquor, cosmetics and culture.

Liu Hong, executive of the Waigaoqiao Group, said they have designed eight routes for people to pay visit on these platforms during the import expo. Also, the group is working with the Shanghai Customs to make it a reality that bonded items can be traded in the import expo, he added.

Pudong government has selected seven officials to be responsible for contact with overseas politicians during the expo.

“We have to take the opportunity to make Pudong a trading center for import goods,” Feng said. “To achieve that, we need to provide businesses with multiple access points to the Chinese market and serve their  needs.”

Many exhibitors have chosen to stay in Pudong as a prime location to deal with business and visit other popular destinations in Shanghai. Pudong’s greenery authority has made great efforts to improve the area’.

Officials are out and about looking for environmental problems at street level, while in  drones are surveying the area from above with the same objective, said Zhang Cangang, director of Pudong Environmental Protection, Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau.

So far, 153 illegal outdoor billboards have been pulled down and 95 sites with problems such as shacks under elevated road and heaps of construction garbage have been cleared. Flowerbeds and mini roadside parks have been installed at 3,000 road junctions. Lighting along the Huangpu river will be improved by the end of this month.

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