2014 Iran ? Gansu Commodities Exhibition held successfully

Gansu province organized a trade delegation consisting of around 200 representatives from over 90 enterprises, and held a series of activities for the 2014 Iran ? China (Gansu) Investment, Trade and Commodities Exhibition in Iran from August 10 to 12. A total of $ 110 million worth of trade contracts, along with over $15 million worth of agreements for foreign export were signed at the exhibition, while over 40 investment and trade projects with a planned investment of around $3 billion were under negotiation.?

Given the great attention and vigorous support from the provincial Party committee and provincial government, the province has been taking the lead in opening up to the west across the country. With an emphasis on its economic and trade exchanges and cooperation with Iran, the bilateral economic and trade cooperation exceeded $100 million last year, which is growing at a rate of over 10 percent on an annual basis.

The province established China’s first provincial level trade representation in Iran. At the same time, Iran also sent high level delegations to Gansu to attend the Asia Cooperation Dialogue Forum on Silk Road Cooperation, the 4th Dunhuang Tour?Silk Road International Tourism Festival and the 20th Lanzhou Fair held in the province to carry out practical cooperation.

The series of activities, which were held in Teheran and Qom simultaneously, were the largest investment promotion and commodities exhibition activities that China’s provincial level delegations have ever attended in Iran in recent years. The exhibition was well received by enterprises from both sides, and a total of 700 representatives attended. Enterprises in Gansu province had exhibited over 200 types of products, which attracted a great number of local businessmen and consumers.

Enterprises from Gansu and Iranian enterprises had conducted consultations on investment and trade projects in Teheran, and 21 enterprises from Gansu province signed $110 million worth of contracts with Iranian companies on the spot. The Iran Islamic Research and Information Center signed a Mutual Recognition Agreement on Muslim Food with an Authentication Center of Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, which allowed the province’s halal food to enter Iran’s market. Additionally, 40 other investment and trade projects were under negotiation, mainly associated with energy, transportation, infrastructure, mineral exploitation, agricultural techniques, tourism and other sectors.

Enterprises from Gansu were also organized to conduct field investigations on expressway, urban monorail, civil airport, telecommunication network, agriculture, water saving irrigation and other key investment projects in Qom during the exhibition, and the two sides had reached intention agreements on cooperation. The Gansu government also held a ‘2014 Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between Qom, Iran and Gansu, China’ with the government of Qom province, where the two governments and representatives from enterprises conducted in-depth exchanges on practical cooperation in economy, trade, culture and other areas.

Edited by Brian Salter, Huang Pei