2021 WTCA CIIE Program in Action

After several months of preparation, the 2021 WTCA CIIE Program came to fruition at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) which was held November 5-10. The program aimed to introduce and promote products and services from global World Trade Center businesses and their business members to the Chinese market at the CIIE expo for the third consecutive year. This year's WTCA CIIE program was participated by 69 enterprises across nine World Trade Center businesses, bringing a total of 194 products and services from 13 countries covering five major industries. The participating World Trade Center businesses represented the Europe, North America and Asia Pacific regions, and included World Trade Center Cyprus, World Trade Center Denver, World Trade Center Dublin, World Trade Center Kuala Lumpur, World Trade Center Leeuwarden, World Trade Center Metro Manila, World Trade Center Mumbai, World Trade Center Trieste and World Trade Center Vancouver.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year's WTCA CIIE Program was structured as a hybrid platform with an in-person booth managed by WTCA Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO) staff for face-to-face interaction with potential buyers. During the exhibition, the WTCA booth was visited by local World Trade Center businesses including World Trade Center Dandong, World Trade Center Shanghai, World Trade Center Shenyang, World Trade Center/COIC Nanning and World Trade Center Qingdao, as well as officials and representatives from the Shanghai Pudong New District Government, Fujian Provincial Department of Commerce, Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce, Shanghai World Expo Coordination Bureau and other organizations.

In partnership with CCPIT Fujian and Longyan City Government, the WTCA also co-hosted an online matchmaking session between Fujian and overseas enterprises, which resulted in about 70 B2B meetings and received positive feedback from both foreign and Chinese participants. Robin van Puyenbroeck, WTCA Executive Director-Business Development, and Ghazi Abu Nahl, WTCA Emeritus Chairman and World Trade Center Fuzhou Chairman, delivered opening remarks for the meeting and also introduced the Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered B2B networking platform component of the 2021 WTCA Member Forum which was held on November 15-19. Mr. van Puyenbroeck extended an invitation to Fujian and Longyan-based companies to participate and benefit from the B2B networking opportunity.

“This was the best matchmaking event I have done since the pandemic began. The Chinese companies were perfectly compatible with what DIVI is looking for, so they were 100% pertinent to our business. The clients knew what questions they wanted to ask. These matchmaking sessions were really necessary to begin to create a relationship. It’s a foot in the door, which is really priceless. I would definitely do this event again,” said Andrea W. Garwood, Owner of DIVI SRL, Italy. 

The 2021 WTCA CIIE Program was a joint program between the WTCA and World Trade Center Shanghai, and was promoted to local business communities by 10 World Trade Center businesses/partners in China including CCPIT Fujian, World Trade Center Fuzhou, World Trade Center Haikou/Sanya, World Trade Center Nanning, World Trade Center Qingdao, World Trade Center Shanghai, World Trade Center Shenyang, World Trade Center Tianjin, World Trade Center Xiamen, and World Trade Center Xi’an.