The Guangdong & Macao Branded Products Fair encompasses trade, cultural exchanges, shopping, leisure and entertainment
The “Guangdong & Macao Branded Products Fair” is a flagship annual event for Guangdong and Macao that encompasses trade, cultural exchanges, shopping, leisure and entertainment. This year witnesses the GMBPF’s 10th anniversary since its debut in 2009. The co-organisers hope that the GMBPF can constantly improve itself based on its past successes and continue in its role as a platform for attracting investment and going global. Enterprises also speak highly of the GMBPF, noting that it is as an extraordinary platform and window for participants to seek different customers and expand business markets.
Mr Lao, representative of a GMBPF co-organiser the Association of Returned Overseas Chinese Macao, points out that Macao needs to capitalise on its unique edge in attracting investment and going global through regional co-operation, so as to achieve moderate diversified economic development. The GMBPF can exactly testify to Macao’s role as an “intermediary” platform. Firstly, through the GMBPF, products from Macao can tap into the Guangdong market, and even into the enormous Mainland market through Guangdong. Secondly, being a platform connecting China and Portuguese-speaking countries that has built close ties with countries along the Belt and Road Initiative and the countries in Europe and the Americas, Macao will enable Guangdong branded products to enter into Portuguese-speaking countries’ markets and into other parts of world via this event.
Recalling the past nine years of the GMBPF, Mr Lao notes that they have faced many challenges in establishing the GMBPF from scratch. However, with the active co-operation and full support of the governments of Guangdong and Macao as well as the concerted efforts of relevant entities and various exhibitors, the organisers and co-organisers have been able to overcome the difficulties and successfully plan and host the GMBPF, thereby ensuring a smoother operation of the event year after year. He also shares an anecdote which took place during the GMBPF’s early stages – Owing to the lack of experience in customs declaration, some of the goods only managed to be transported to the GMBPF on its opening day. Such thrilling moments in the past have imprinted in his memory.
Anticipation of Even Stronger Influence of Being an “Intermediary” Platform
Looking ahead, he hopes that the GMBPF can continue to showcase the features of the Belt and Road Initiative by inviting more countries and regions along the Belt and Road to partake in this event. Meanwhile, relevant extension activities involving professional buyers, investors and industry players can also be carried out, including business co-operation forums, investment fairs, and more. Moreover, as the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area grows onward, the “Exhibition Area of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area” can be set up as a long-term component of the event, whose exhibits and products can even be further enriched by introducing innovative technology products and services. In addition, in order to give better play to Macao’s role as a platform bridging China and Portuguese-speaking countries, he suggests further multiplying the elements of the products from the Portuguese-speaking countries, which can strengthen exchanges between these exhibitors and their counterparts from Guangdong or overseas regions. By doing so, it creates more opportunities for products from Portuguese-speaking countries to be exposed to the industry players from Guangdong and the mainland, making Macao a more effective platform that enables products from Portuguese-speaking countries to tap into the market of Guangdong and even more mainland cities.
Ms Qian, director of a company from Guangdong Province selling dried seafood, has been participating in the GMBPF since its first edition and will be participating in the event for the 10th time this year. According to her, her company has yielded encouraging results at every year’s GMBPF, and this has been a motivation for her to take part in the GMBPF continuously. She puts it simply: the platform not only allows her company to expand its market in Hong Kong, Macao, and Portuguese-speaking countries, but also brings opportunities to come into contact with many new friends and clients. Besides, since the GMBPF has been held concurrently with the “Macao Franchise Expo” (MFE), the promotion and sales effects of the fair are therefore further enhanced.
Enterprises Go Global via GMBPF
Ms Tong, who engages in the coffee industry in Macao, has taken part in the GMBPF for six years. In her opinion, the GMBPF is beneficial for exhibitors to expand their comprehensive markets, seek different customers, and better promote their brands. She mentioned that the drip coffee bags her company introduced at last year’s GMBPF were well received by customers. Afterwards, she participated in a fair outside Macao and coincidentally met the same professional buyer whom she got to know through the GMBPF. They soon decided on business co-operation. In her view, the GMBPF is a platform conducive to promoting a company’s brand, which ultimately will lead to long-term and close co-operation between business partners. She hopes that more breakthroughs can be seen on this year’s GMBPF, and that her brand can be better promoted with the support of measures of the Belt and Road Initiative and of the Bay Area.
Ms Wong, representative of a company featuring local specialty products and Chinese goods who will be taking part in the GMBPF for the second time, says that considering the nature of her company’s goods, the GMBPF functions as a superb promotional platform and window that enables more Macao residents, tourists and merchandising companies from other regions to know more about branded products from Mainland China. Apart from exhibiting the food products from Yunnan, the Taiwan region and Macao SAR, this year, her company also plans to establish co-operation with the Congjiang County of Guizhou Province to support the poverty alleviation, following the Framework Agreement on Poverty Alleviation Cooperation signed by the SAR Government and Guizhou Province. Meanwhile, her company will also learn about the Portuguese-speaking countries’ interest in the products of Congjiang County, paving the way for these products to go global.
