Asean investors participate in CIFIT

9/10/2010 — Foods1.com
Since the China-Asean Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) took effect on January 1, trade relations between China and Asean have increased.
Officially launched on Sept 8, the 14th CIFIT has seen investors from Thai, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, etc exploring opportunities to attract Chinese investors.
In the Exhibition Hall H of CIFIT, products like olive oil, T-shirts with elephant design and Thai products are best sellers. A trader from Thailand said 30% of his products were sold in a few hours after the opening of the booth.
The Thai-Chinese Chamber spokesperson said, although the number of participants from Thailand were small this time, the volume of products showcased during the CIFIT were large, which will give them good yields this year.
Agricultural products from Philippines are another focus in the exhibition. Local specialty products such as nuts, banana slices, almond biscuits, etc are best sellers. In the booth set up by the Philippines government, agriculture was the theme for the exhibition.  Entrepreneurs that are involved in agriculture downstream activities held talks with Chinese investors.
The Philippines agriculture session spokesperson stressed on the benefits they enjoyed from CAFTA, with more Philippines entrepreneurs showing their willingness to expand their business in China.
“Bringing in” and “Going global” is the theme of 14th CIFIT this year. Malaysia’s ECER takes the CIFIT as a platform, to attract investments from all over the world.
Malaysia’s ECERDC CEO Dato’ Jebasingam Issace said, “There are few Chinese traders who have shown their willingness to invest in ECER. The set up of free trade area provides a larger ‘local market’ for ECER. The strategic location of ECER gives it the potential to become a main trade, industry and tourism centre, and looks forward to attract more Chinese investors.”
At the same time, the 1 Malaysia Hall also made its debut in CIFIT. Malaysian traders showcased the locally-produced palm oil products, display production process using flow chart and pictures, promoting the healthy, environmental friendly products to visitors.