INTERVIEW: CIIE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT IMPORT FAIR IN THE WORLD, ACCORDING TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE CUBAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

By Yosley Carrero
HAVANA, Nov 10 ( Xinhua) — The China International Import Expo (CIIE) has established itself as the most important exhibition of import products globally, said to Xinhua the president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Cuba, Antonio Carricarte.
“It is a market with a high level of consumption that allows opening new opportunities for exports to the Chinese market and the development of investments,” the senior official specified.
Carricarte stressed that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government, in correspondence with its short, medium and long-term development objectives and strategies “has continued to promote the holding of this trade event as a platform for cooperation with other countries in the world.”
“The four previous editions of CIIE have clearly set out China’s commitment to the policy of opening up and promoting global cooperation as a contribution to building an open world economy based on innovation and inclusiveness under the win-win policy,” he added.
He said that CIIE constitutes a propitious scenario to expand the scope of Cuba’s exportable items and services to the Chinese market.
“For many years, traditional products have had an important weight in bilateral trade, particularly in exports of Cuban products to the Chinese market, highlighting sugar, tobacco and rum,” he said.
He added that lobster and sugar exports to China are currently enjoying great acceptance among Chinese consumers, who have helped boost demand.
“We can affirm that CIIE is a reflection of China’s commitment to constantly expand institutional openness with respect to norms, regulations, management and standards, while emphasizing high-level openness, ratified at the recently concluded 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC),” he said.
The president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Cuba said that for the Caribbean country CIIE opens new business opportunities and bilateral collaboration with Chinese companies.
“The People’s Republic of China is a strategic partner and plays a fundamental role in the execution of our economic and social development plans,” he said, while praising the impressive development achieved by Chinese society in recent decades.
Carricarte insisted that, as in the previous edition of CIIE, Cuba participates this time with a pavilion in the online format, in which the main Cuban export products are shown, such as coffee, rum, tobacco and lobster, including the promotion of the biopharmaceutical industry and tourism.
“The insertion of our country in the cross-border e-commerce modality in the Chinese JD platform has also been part of the strategy to deepen our relations with China and a new milestone in bilateral cooperation,” he said.
Regarding economic and trade ties between the two countries, Carricarte commented to Xinhua that China has consolidated its position as the second largest trading partner in global trade with Cuba.
“The ties with China constitute an opportunity for insertion into a large market for the import of high-standard goods such as innovative technologies and products, high-quality services and high-end consumer products at more affordable prices than those of other international markets,” he concluded.