STORY: Exhibition goods from Vanuatu being shipped to China for CIIE
DATELINE: Sept. 13, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:05
LOCATION: CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Vanuatu
2. SOUNDBITE (English): JOE PACOA, Director of Vanuatu's Department of External Trade
3. various of Vanuatu

STORYLINE:

Products to be exhibited at the 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE) from Vanuatu embarked on a local transport flight to transit through New Zealand on Monday.

The Vanuatu products will join the New Zealand exhibition products and set to sail from New Zealand to east China's Shanghai in mid-September, which marks the first shipment of exhibition products for this year's CIIE, undertaken by COSCO SHIPPING.

Vanuatu is an island nation located in the southwestern Pacific, with its economy primarily based on agriculture, fisheries and livestock.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1982, China and Vanuatu have maintained stable and positive economic and trade ties. In 2022, the trade volume between China and Vanuatu reached about 108 million U.S. dollars, representing an 8.97 percent year-on-year increase.

The Vanuatu government and local businesses greatly value the CIIE platform and have actively participated in the expo since its inception.

According to Joe Pacoa, director of Vanuatu's Department of External Trade, Vanuatu's exhibition products are natural and distinctive. They have received positive feedback from Chinese consumers at previous CIIE expos. Vanuatu's water, kava and noni juice have forayed into the Chinese market.

SOUNDBITE (English): JOE PACOA, Director of Vanuatu's Department of External Trade
"As one of the participants in the 6th China International Import Expo that will be hosted in Shanghai, China on between Nov. 5 to 10, 2023, we have a lot of successful stories in our participation since 2018 and we have three or four products which are already in the Chinese market.
We are so grateful that these products are entering the Chinese market."

Encouraged by this, Vanuatu will continue to introduce more exhibition products at this year's CIIE, including local jewellery, sea cucumber-based cancer-fighting health products, mineral water, kava-based foods and daily necessities, chocolates, coconut oil, Tamanu oil, as well as traditional local handcrafted items and wood carvings, Pacoa said.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Christchurch, New Zealand.
(XHTV)