Thousands of Chinese and international tourists visited the Fijian booth on a daily basis at the 2019 International Horticultural Exhibition in Beijing.

The exhibition, which was opened by Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 29 this year, is the biggest horticultural exhibition staged by any country in the world.

It will end on October 7, 2019.

Counsellor at the Fijian Embassy in Beijing Ratish Singh said the exhibition gave Fiji the opportunity to promote Fijian Made products, not only to the Chinese market, but also to the world through foreign exhibitors and visitors.
Pavilion days

The exhibition stages pavilion days for each country on different dates and Fijians in China will celebrate the Fiji Pavilion Day on July 31, 2019, with traditional kava ceremonies, displays and performances.

“The expo promotes Fiji in a holistic sense, not only in horticulture but also in culture, tourism and trade,” Mr Singh said.

“And to add more flavour to the event we want to bring performers from Fiji and six florists to come and display their skills.

“It will be a learning curve for them and for us as well because this is the first time China is holding it and it is one of the biggest events in the calendar because it is organised by the central government.”

While pointing out the importance of Fiji’s participation at the expo, Mr Singh said apart from the learning opportunities it presented, it was important under the Belt and Road Initiative.

“If you look at the BRI it gives us the luxury of unimpeded trade. We get to meet officials here and talk about how we can get other products from Fiji to China, for example Kava,” he said.

“There has been a strong interest for Fijian handicraft here at the expo. They want to buy it, but we are only promoting it we are not selling it so we would like to bring in more Fijian products like that for the Chinese market.”

Fijian Made beer

Fiji Links company, a local Chinese enterprise, has been selling Fiji Gold beer and Fiji Bitter to customers in Dalian City since 2015.

Employee Lin Yan Yun said there were plans for widescale sales of Fijian beer to the local Chinese community.

She said there was a huge demand for Fijian beer in Dalian and there were plans to branch out to other provinces and cities.

Ms Lin is based at the Fijian booth throughout the expo and is one of the first to greet you at the entrance while offering Fiji beer samples to visitors.

A second local company based out of Shanghai is also looking to sell Pure Fiji products in China once its licence is finalised.

There are five other Pacific Island countries that are represented at the expo namely the Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu.

Edited by Epineri Vula

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