The 30th China Yiwu International Commodities Fair opens in Yiwu, known as the world's largest wholesale market for small commodities, in east China's Zhejiang Province on Monday.
Themed on "Creating new driving forces of foreign trade and shaping up new advantages of opening up," the fair is scheduled to take place from Monday to Thursday at the Yiwu International Expo Center, attracting 2,500 participating enterprises.
It covers a total exhibition area of 100,000 square meters and sets up 3,900 booths with international standard.
The fair has set up exhibition areas for daily consumer goods, hardware tools, construction hardware, electronics and appliances, toys, mechanical and electrical machinery, sports and outdoor leisure products, cultural and office supplies, service trade and other industries.
During the fair, a series of concurrent events and activities, such as the 30th anniversary ceremony of the fair, global new product launch conferences, international competition of small commodity creative designs, and trade negotiations, will be launched.
Launched in 1995, the China Yiwu International Commodities Fair has grown to be the largest and most influential daily consumer goods expo in China.
30th China Yiwu Int'l Commodities Fair opens in Zhejiang
China and other member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), pledged to enhance sustainable development cooperation at a Thursday conference in Tianjin, ahead of this year's SCO summit.
As the rotating chair for this year, China is to host the SCO summit in Tianjin this autumn. The China-SCO Conference on Industrial Cooperation for Sustainable Development is one of the activities organized during a promotion event from Wednesday to Friday. It aims to promote cooperation in fields like infrastructure, energy, mining and petrifaction.
Nearly 400 guests, including government officials and enterprises from SCO member states attended the opening session.
"In 2024, China's trade volume with SCO member states, observer states and dialogue partners reached a record high of 890 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for about 14.4 percent of China's total foreign trade volume, fully demonstrating the tremendous vitality and broad prospects of trade development within the region," said Ling Ji, vice minister of commerce and deputy China international trade representative, at the conference.
As China has extensive experience in promoting sustainable development, attendees from SCO member states expressed hope to strengthen cooperation with China across various sectors, said SCO Deputy Secretary General Sohail Khan.
"China plays a very, very important, significant role in sustainable development, as I said, so we are expecting that in the sustainable development context, all member states have lot to gain and learn from China on its achievements in various areas, like agricultural industries, energy, high tech, information technology, and robot AI," he said.
By the end of 2024, China's investment stocks in SCO member states, observer states and dialogue partners have exceeded 140 billion U.S. dollars, with the total value of contracts signed by Chinese enterprises in these countries exceeding one trillion U.S. dollars and the completed turnover surpassing 680 billion U.S. dollars.
In 2024, about 19,000 China-Europe freight train ran through the SCO region, marking a year-on-year increase of 10.7 percent and significantly promoting regional connectivity and economic development.
China, SCO member states pledge deeper sustainable development cooperation
