Foreign diplomats join live commerce in Guangxi

Three consulate-generals of Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia in Nanning, capital city of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, participated in a live-streaming event on Monday to promote trade innovation and deepen opening-up and cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 

In partnership with a TikTok live-streamer, the diplomats promoted such products as Vietnamese coffee, Thailand's latex pillow, Malaysia's Musang King durian to domestic consumers and interacted with the audience online.

The three consulate-generals also promoted Guangxi specialties, such as jasmine tea, tangerine, bird's nest, medical supplies and luosifen to Southeast Asian countries via Lazada, a cross-border e-commerce platform.

"Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, more Thai consumers have taken a liking to online shopping. And I believe this event will further enhance trade ties between Thailand and Guangxi," said Benjamas Tanvetyanont, the consul-general of Thailand in Nanning.

According to Peng Jian, the organizer of the Live Commerce event, also the director of the foreign affairs office of the Nanning municipal people's government, the event was designed for diplomats to experience the development of cross-border business in Nanning and promote mutual prosperity with the implement of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

"Taking into account the global pandemic situation, I believe there is no better time for us to dive into this e-commerce sector where we are able to shop and also have a glimpse of the world around us and understand how other people live their lives by the products that they use," said  Azlimi Zakaria, the consul-general of Malaysia in Nanning. 

Azlimi Zakaria said the cross-border e-commerce cooperation between Malaysia and China and in particular Guangxi is set to grow even bigger as both sides are very serious about the growth of this sector.   

"A program such as this live-streaming is a good example of how both sides are working together to reach a wider base by diversifying our approach to our prospective buyers," added Azlimi. 

Do Nam Trung, the consul-general of Vietnam in Nanning, told China Daily that he would like to promote the mutual understanding through displaying Vietnam's coffee culture to Chinese consumers. 

As a new form of foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce has become an important driving force for stabilizing China's foreign trade and has witnessed rapid growth despite the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has surged from less than 1.2 trillion yuan ($188 billion) in 2018 to 1.98 trillion yuan ($300 billion) in 2021. 

The China (Nanning) Comprehensive Cross-Border E-Commerce Pilot Zone, one of the 22 cities of the third set of pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce, began operating in 2018. With more than 100 companies moving in, it reported a transaction volume of 7.77 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) last year, up 259 percent year-on-year, according to official statistics. 

Xu Weicheng contributed to this story.