On April 7, Premier Li Keqiang presided over the executive meeting of the State Council and launched a series of measures aimed at actively responding to the impact of the epidemic and striving to stabilize the basic foreign trade and foreign investment. In response to the severe situation of the spread of the global epidemic, the meeting decided that the 127th Canton Fair will be held online in the middle and late June. This is the first time it has been held online since the establishment of the Canton Fair. It is not only an alternative to the extraordinary period, but also reflects the objective needs in the market, and also reflects the important support role of technological development for innovation.
At present, the global epidemic pandemic is spreading at an accelerated rate, which has a huge impact on the world economy and international trade and investment. As an important trading country in the world, China's trade dependence is relatively high, and the turmoil in the world's trade market also has a negative impact on China. After undergoing the first stage of hard fight against the epidemic, Wuhan, which was once the eye of the epidemic, was unsealed at 0:00 on April 8. China's anti-epidemic has achieved staged results, and the resumption of production is also steadily advancing. However, the pandemic of the global epidemic, on the one hand, has made China's epidemic prevention and control still in the normal stage, on the other hand, it has affected China's foreign trade.
According to data released by the General Administration of Customs on March 23, during January-February 2020, China ’s total import and export trade was 413.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.6%, of which export trade was 20406 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 15.9%. 2.0832 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.4%. The sharp decline in export trade caused a relatively rare trade deficit in China's foreign trade from January to February. Processing trade accounts for 1/4 of China's foreign trade. The export value of processing and assembly trade from January to February decreased by 16.3%, and that of imported processing decreased by 21.4%.
Behind the pressure of foreign trade is the pressure of employment, which affects the pressure of consumption. "Six stables" seem to be irrelevant to each other, but in reality they complement each other. At the National Convention on April 7, it was decided that on the basis of the establishment of 59 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test areas, 46 new cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test areas should be established. For the most affected processing trade enterprises, targeted tax reduction or exemption policies have been introduced.
When domestic consumption has not yet been fully launched, how to stabilize foreign trade orders and expand the foreign trade market has become an important starting point for stabilizing foreign trade. The China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair), founded in 1957, is a comprehensive international trade event with the longest history, the largest scale, the most complete variety, the most buyers, the best transaction results, and the best reputation in China. It has developed into China. The first foreign trade promotion platform is known as the barometer and vane of China's foreign trade. Commodity exhibitions are an important means of expanding foreign trade orders, but the impact of the epidemic makes traditional commodity exhibitions impossible.
Under the current special conditions, an innovative decision was made at the executive meeting of the State Council. The 127th Canton Fair was held online in the middle and late June. Invite domestic and foreign merchants to display products online, use advanced information technology, provide 24/7 online promotion, supply and purchase docking, online negotiation and other services, create an online foreign trade platform of high-quality specialty products, so that Chinese and foreign merchants can place orders and complete transactions without leaving the house . Let trade not be restricted by specific material conditions, save transaction costs and improve negotiation efficiency.
The key to supporting the realization of the "Online Canton Fair" is mature and complete information technology, especially the cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet, cloud computing, big data, and the Industrial Internet of Things. In a sense, "Online Canton Fair" is also a special display of Chinese new technologies.
The holding of "Online Canton Fair" has a solid material foundation and examples that can be used for reference. In fact, various forms of online trade fairs have a long history. The more famous online exhibitions in the world are Sanitaryindustry (Sanitary Industry Online Exhibition), Directindustry (Industry Online Exhibition), Nauticexpo (Ship Online Exhibition), Archiexpo (Home online exhibition), and Medicalexpo (medical online exhibition), etc.
After all, the Canton Fair will be held online for the first time and will face many challenges.
First, the concept needs to be changed. For a long time, traditional exhibitions have dominated, and various circles have paid limited attention to online exhibitions, which has resulted in inadequate resource integration and insufficient staffing. Therefore, the organizer should increase publicity efforts to promote the change of concepts from all walks of life, and manufacturers should also actively prepare and deploy more resources to serve online exhibitions.
Second, technical support must be strong. The core guarantee of online display and transaction is information technology, and a high-quality and efficient information transmission system is the key to ensuring that customers "see as they see it", and smooth online negotiation and transactions also require smooth network and good interface support.
Third, the business model needs to be improved. For China, the business model of the online fair is not yet mature, and the organizers and exhibitors are in the exploration stage. Therefore, relevant parties should work together to actively explore specific programs and strategies that are conducive to the development of online trade fairs.
"Online Canton Fair" is an attempt to innovate in the form of trade. Through the Internet, transactions can be carried out regardless of time, location, number of people, and number of commodities, forming a trend of deep development. For exhibitors, they can obtain the effect of exhibiting similar to traditional exhibitions by participating in online exhibitions with less cost. As new technologies continue to change the pattern of daily life, the traditional commodity exhibition mode will also change accordingly. Perhaps this is an opportunity for traditional commodity trade fairs to play an "Internet +". (Researcher of National Development and Strategy Research Institute of Renmin University of China, Professor of School of Economics Wang Xiaosong)
