For the past 10 years, the Bulgarian export to China has increased tenfold, and only for the first six months of 2018, it has grown by 10% compared to the same period in 2017, amounting to $ 366.7 million. This was stated by the Minister of Economy, Emil Karanikolov, during his visit to the Bulgarian stand at the First Issue of the Chinese International Import Expo /CIIE/, that takes place in Shanghai.
Minister Karanikolov is visiting China, leading a business delegation with representatives of 32 Bulgarian exhibition companies, who present their goods and services in the food and drink industries, cosmetics, etc. The First Issue of the Chinese International Import Expo is attended by more than 130 countries, and the Bulgarian national participation has been organized by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) at the Ministry of Economy.
The Minister of Economy pointed out that our country attends the First Issue of the Chinese International Import Expo aiming to promote the Bulgarian goods on the Chinese market. “We believe there are still opportunities for the further expansion of the Bulgarian export to China and we will continue to work hard to support this tendency”, he added. The Bulgarian stand was also personally visited by the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis.
During his official visit to China, Minister Karanikolov met Mr. Zheng Shangjie, Party Secretary of Ningbo City. At the meeting, the state-owned Company Industrial Zones, together with Ningbo City, agreed to launch a joint Industrial zone in Bulgaria. As a first step, the National Company Industrial Zones, together with its Chinese partners, will prepare and sign a memorandum, setting out the concrete actions of the parties.
They also discussed the trade and economic cooperation under the “16+1” initiative. Since 2014 Ningbo has been a host of the annual Trade and Investment Expo in the 16+1 format, where each year the Ministry of Economy organizes a Bulgarian participation through EASME. Strong willingness to organize the participation of Bulgarian companies for next year was also expressed.
The Chinese International Import Expo (CIIE) was announced by the Chinese President Xi Jinping in May 2017 as part of the First High-Level Dialogue in the Forum “One Belt, One Road”, held in Beijing.
The Forum was organized by the Ministry of Commerce in China and a special Bureau, established at the Ministry, as well as by the Shanghai Municipality. More than 130 countries will take part in the First Issue of the Chinese International Import Expo, with all EU members participating in the exhibition.