Over 2,000 direct and 10,000 indirect buyers to attend Canton Fair
Currently in its 137th edition, the twice-a-year trade fair held in the spring and autumn seasons each year since the spring of 1957 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, is the oldest, largest, and the most representative trade fair in China.
Last year, in its 136th Canton Fair, 1,046 Omani buyers attended the event against 636 Omani buyers who attended the 135th Canton Fair, according to the representative office in Muscat.
'With the changing times and the increasing demand for Chinese products and services in Oman along with the demand worldwide, we are expecting over 2,000 people to attend directly and 10,000 to take part indirectly from the Sultanate of Oman to the Canton Fair 2025,' said Lyu Jian, Chinese Ambassador to Oman.
He said that the Fair has already created a big curiosity among the Omanis and they visit in large numbers each year. They are interested to have tie ups and connections, oil, gas, AI, are all becoming more and more attractive to the people.
'Also, an increasing number of students are making use of the higher education possibilities in China while the demand for tourism too is on the rise and for the facilitation of trade and commerce with Oman, we are trying to have more logistical relations.'
He acknowledged that huge volumes of businesses are taking palce between Oman and China through the Canton fair and both B2B and B2C are taking place, the exact numbers of business are quite unavailable.
'However, the bilateral trade between the two countries has increased over the last 5 years when the exports of Oman to China have increased at an annualised rate of 9.84percent, from $18.9B in 2018 to $30.2B in 2023. Oman's imports from China in 2018, stood at $2.84B. The main products exported from China to Oman are Iron Pipes worth $310 million, Cars to the tune of $169 million, and Air Conditioners worth $133 million,' he said.
He further said that the lack of direct flights between Oman and Beijing has been a challenge and steps are being undertaken to initiate direct flights between the two. Also, measures are in place towards exception of visa requirement for Omanis.
Co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of China and the provincial government of Guangdong Province and organised by China Foreign Trade Centre, the Canton Fair or China Import and Export Fair, is sorted into 16 categories of products, which will be exhibited in 51 sections at the National pavilion. More than 24,000 of China's best foreign trade corporations or enterprises are taking part in the fair. These include private enterprises, factories, scientific research institutions, wholly foreign-owned enterprises, and foreign trade companies. This is one of the world's largest fairs which is eagerly waited for by the traders as well as individual customers worldwide.
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