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Taiwan Trade Fair opens in Nanjing

By Song Hongmei and Hu Yang (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-09-18 14:12

Chen Yunlin (R), director of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, and Wang Chih-Kang, chairman of the Taipei World Trade Center inaugurate the 2009 China (Nanjing) Economic and Trade Fair and 2009 Taiwan Province Trade Fair in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, Sept 17, 2009. [chinadaily.com.cn]

A sudden downpour of rain couldn't dampen the spirits of those attending the opening ceremony of the Taiwan Trade Fair in Nanjing on the morning of Sept 17.

The Fair, in the historic capital city of Jiangsu province in east China, aims to promote Taiwan goods and accelerate cross-Straits trade.

It is the highlight of the 20th Nanjing Golden Autumn Economic and Trade Fair, which opened on the same day. The ceremony was held in Nanjing International Exhibition Center.

The economic and trade fair, one of the most influential trade platforms in Jiangsu province, serves as a catalyst in Nanjing's economic development: Over 60 percent of the foreign-invested enterprises and more than 80 percent of foreign investment in Nanjing are the outcomes of the fair. Moreover, of all the foreign-invested projects which are over $10 million, more than 90 percent is linked with the fair.

Every year the economic and trade fair has a different theme, which indicates the focus of the local economic development in the coming years.

This year, the economic and trade fair is dedicated to forging a tighter link between Taiwan businessmen and their counterparts on the mainland.

The Taiwan trade fair, co-organized by the Nanjing municipal government and Taipei World Trade Center for the first time, is the largest ever trade fair of Taiwan goods held outside the Taiwan Island, said Wang Chih-Kang, board chairman of the event's organizer on the Taiwan side.

The total exhibition area for Taiwan goods covers 38,000 square meters, with nearly 1,900 exhibition booths. The exhibition will last from Sept 17 to 20.

"Because of historical reasons, many Taiwanese are quite familiar with Nanjing," said Lin Wenyi, Vice-Chairman of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, at the opening ceremony of the two fairs.

The mausoleum of Dr Sun Yat-sen is situated at the foot of the Purple Mountain in Nanjing. Sun is considered to be the "Father of Modern China" in the Chinese mainland and in Taiwan as the two sides both share with Sun's idea: "The State belongs to the people ". The mausoleum has become a must-see destination for all visitors to Nanjing, especially those from Taiwan.

Zhao Xiaojiang, deputy mayor of Nanjing, told China Daily "Nanjing is one of the favorite destinations for Taiwan businessmen, so organizers aim to develop the Taiwan trade fair into a regular large-scale and high status event in the city."

Over 20 heavyweights from Taiwan's business world came to Nanjing with Wang Chih-Kang. Enterprises behind these high-level managers and councilors contribute two thirds of Taiwan's GDP, according to Wang.

"The fair is not only a platform for selling products, but a platform for cultural and emotional exchange," said Wang. He also expressed the hope that this fair will have long-lasting good effect.

"In addition to historic reasons, Nanjing and Taiwan, with their economies complementary to each other, are committed to win-win cooperation amid the international financial crisis, and their economic and trade cooperation has great potential," said Zhao.

"The Chinese mainland is an important market in the world, in terms of both scale and influence. As a native of Taiwan, I believe the two sides across the Straits should work together to cope with the economic crisis," Lin added.

More than 4,000 Taiwan businessmen from 750 enterprises attended the fair, among them 27 percent are mainland-based, according to Zhu.

They brought more than 30,000 varieties of product to the fair, which come from ten different fields ranging from electronic products to food and beverage.

Besides exhibiting goods, various activities were also held through the event, including Taiwan businessmen symposiums and face-to-face consultation meetings,to help the participants seal more deals.

Want Want Group, a company specialized in developing and producing snacks, attracted much attention. Unlike many Taiwan companies who brought their products to the mainland for the first time, Want Want has been long established here.

It entered the mainland in 1992. By now it has 130 plants dotted in mainland provinces except Jilin and Hainan as well as autonomous regions except Tibet and Inner Mongolia.

Mitchell Hsieh, general manager of Want Want confectionery division, told China Daily that their business now expands to more than 53 countries and regions, but the mainland remains their major market, as well as their production and research base. As a veteran who worked for Want Want for more than 10 years, Hsieh said he believed the snack giant's business really only took off after it came to the mainland.

Special Coverage: China (Nanjing) Economic and Trade Fair Related readings:   30,000 varieties of goods grant Nanjing natives a glimpse of Taiwan  Nanjing hungry to pounce on expo spillover  China (Nanjing) Economic and Trade Fair kicks off  Economic and trade fair opens in Nanjing

Compared with Want Want, Daisuki company is so much younger: It debuted its products-- bags used for carrying pets around -- in Taiwan in March this year, but the pet boom in the mainland quickly attracted them across the straits for a larger market.

Chinese consumers spent 5.73 billion yuan on pet food and pet-care products in 2008, a 6.9 percent increase from the previous year, according to Euromonitor International. The global market research and consulting company predicted the market will rise 5.6 percent in 2009, to 6.05 billion yuan.

Guo Zhiyi, a Daisuki manager, said that the pet market is so huge that they had to give up the idea of serving directly to individual customers; as a result, they came to the fair in the hope of finding some sales representation.

Besides the veteran and rookie enterprises, mature-aged new-comers make up a large part of the exhibitors. While most of them have well-established business and market in Taiwan, this fair gives them a chance to tap the market of 1.3 billion people in the mainland. More and more consumers develop the desire and the means to buy commodities of higher quality, which many Taiwan enterprises specialize in.

Xu Canzhong, a general manager whose company makes vegetarian specialty foods, came to test the market. He wants to find some representation to sell his products. "If the products sell well here, our next step would be setting up a local plant."