The annual China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO), which will be held for the 15th time in Nanning, China from 12th to 15th September 2018, is identified by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) as a strategic platform for Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to promote their products and services into China.
For that, Minister of International Trade and E-Commerce Sarawak YB Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh hoped that more SMEs will “seize the opportunities to participate in this iconic expo,” citing an increase in sales recorded from Malaysia’s participation in CAEXPO by 23 percent over the past two years – from RM329.60 million in 2016 to RM405.50 million in 2017.
“I hope Malaysian exporters, particularly SMEs could ride on this year’s CAEXPO and work together to penetrate the China market and contribute towards increasing our exports to China,” he stated in his speech read by Assistant Minister of E-Commerce and Assistant Minister of Entrepreneur and Small, Medium Enterprise (SME) Development YB Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais during the official launching of CAEXPO Promotion Conference 2018 in Kuching on Wednesday, 25th April 2018.
CAEXPO is an international trade fair co-sponsored by China and the 10 ASEAN countries that focuses on cooperation and common development among these regions.
It has been earmarked and highly credited as an effective platform to promote co-operation between China and ASEAN in the fields of trade, investment and tourism.
The promotion conference in Kuching is the third pit stop in a series of CAEXPO roadshow in Malaysia, which has taken place in Kuala Lumpur and Johor earlier this week.
The roadshow itself aims to promote CAEXPO and encourage more Malaysian companies from key states in Malaysia to participate in the main expo, subsequently enhancing business opportunities in China, promoting ASEAN-China free trade area (FTA), and promoting business opportunities under China’s development strategy called the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
