China will make further use of international fairs to help the country's foreign trade enterprises to secure sales orders and expand their markets, according to the country's Ministry of Commerce on Feb 24.

Wang Wentao, China's commerce minister, said at a media briefing in Beijing that to stabilize foreign trade China will strengthen efforts on holding international events such as the fourth China International Import Expo (CIIE) and the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) as well as trade fairs like the Canton Fair and the first China International Consumer Products Expo which is to be held in Hainan province in May this year.

The country will strive to achieve the goal via online and offline strategies, according to the changing situation of the COVID-19 epidemic, he added.

Moreover, China will focus on building an international marketing system, with special attention to upgrading and developing overseas warehouses, to promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade, the minister said.

He also noted that China will discuss and establish working mechanisms for unimpeded trade with more trading partners, the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative in particular, to foster a friendly international environment for the foreign trade companies.

Meanwhile, the country will nurture new business forms and commercial models of foreign trade, according to the minister.

He said that after the epidemic, new biz models of foreign trade, such as cross-border e-commerce and market procurement trade, have played an important role in economic recovery.

In 2020, China's cross-border e-commerce import-export volume reached $262 billion, up 31.1 percent year on year. In the same year, China's market procurement trade export recorded a volume of $109.2 billion, a y-o-y increase of 25.2 percent. Both of the trades achieved double-digit growth, which shows that these new forms of business and new models have strong vitality.

By Xian Bihui