Guizhou province opens itself up to a rich world of opportunities

Cornucopia of companies have made their way there via its expos

Through a rich and diverse variety of expos, the southwestern province of Guizhou has attracted a cornucopia of companies and talented professionals from home and abroad seeking out fresh business opportunities.

One of them is Andrea Cavattoni, president of the Verona Stone Industry Association of Italy.

"I was surprised by the number of suppliers and buyers when I participated in the third Guizhou International Stone Expo," said Cavattoni, who is also an Italian stone product supplier.

He exhibited his marble products at the expo, held in Anshun in Guizhou province on Aug 26.

He said he could not imagine that there were so many opportunities before he went to Anshun.

Cavattoni said Italy was rich in marble resources and is also one of the most competitive countries in producing stone products, accounting for half of the products on international markets.

"I was impressed by the Guizhou officials who gave me a warm invitation when they held a promotional event in Italy, so I decided to take part in the fair," he added.

"My company will select one of the local businesses as a partner," he said.

"We will export raw materials and advanced technology to produce and sell products in China, which we truly believe will boost our profits."

Statistics from the event's organizing committee show that more than 1,500 companies have showcased their products via the three stone expos held to date, and agreements for more 2,000 projects valued at 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) were signed in total.

According to an official from Anshun, the stone expo has become a comprehensive platform to promote communications within the stone industry, and it has also become the biggest expo for stone products in southwestern China.

In addition, the China (Guizhou) International Alcoholic Beverage Expo, is the only one in China recognized by the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, or UFI.

With the expo, Guizhou continues to promote its alcoholic beverage industry and works with global players to boost the local economy, according to the event's organizers.

Another heavyweight expo held by Guizhou is the China International Big Data Industry Expo, which was upgraded to a national-level expo this year.

It has attracted the participation of industrial leaders, including Microsoft, Qualcomm and Tencent. Some of them have launched operations in Guizhou, bringing in advanced technologies and capital.

In January last year, the provincial government of Guizhou signed a cooperative agreement with Qualcomm to establish a joint venture - Huaxintong, in Guian New Area - focusing on design, R&D and sales of server chips for the Chinese market.

During his first visit to Guizhou in August, Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm, said he was excited about and confident in doing business in Guizhou.

In another development, Apple Inc agreed in July to invest $1 billion in building its first China data center in Guizhou, to meet local consumers' growing demand for better cloud services.

It will be operated by Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Co Ltd, a company owned by the Guizhou provincial government. The company will be the sole operating partner of Apple's iCloud service in the Chinese mainland.

Huawei, one of the world's largest telecom equipment markers, began construction of its data center project in Guian New Area in August, responding to the company's growing needs to build facilities that support its global services.

The first phase of the center will cover 400,000 square meters. It will operate about 600,000 servers, storing Huawei's global management data. The events have played a crucial role in attracting employment, capital, technology and information to Guizhou, in the process creating economic benefits and boosting local industries' growth, according to local officials.

Last year, Guizhou hosted 248 expos, 607 forums and conferences, which attracted nearly 8 million visitors and brought in economic benefits worth 10 billion yuan, said Lu Yongzheng, deputy governor of Guizhou.

Zhang Hanlin, director of the Guizhou Bureau of Expo Affairs, said the provincial government will help to promote the integration of expos and local industries. It will also cultivate leading expo brands and make the events more professional and internationalized.

"We will try to bring in more competitive events in the long run," Zhang added.

Dong Xianwu contributed to the story

(China Daily 10/20/2017 page12)