Shishi actively transforms to integrative development of the Belt and Road Initiative

The 3rd China （Quanzhou） Maritime Silk Road International Brand Expo and The 20th Straits Textile Clothing Fair （referred to STCF） were held in Shishi city during April 18th to 20th. The exhibition would give full play to the role to promote the construction of Quanzhou as “Pilot area and Strategic pivot city of Maritime Silk Road in 21st century” and Fujian province as “Core zone of Maritime Silk Road in 21st century”， so as to further enhance the influence and radiation force of Shishi city， Quanzhou city and Fujian province， as well as promote the transformation of Fujian province from industrial connection of straits to integrative development of the Belt and Road Initiative to achieve mutual benefit of global industry， city and economy. In addition， 2017 SHISHI Fashion Week was also staged during April 24th to 27th.

Powerful combination of the two fairs

Based on the previous two-session success， The 3rd China （Quanzhou） Maritime Silk Road International Brand Expo， one of The 3rd MSR International Arts Festival Series Activities， further boosted brand promotion and international trade of Maritime Silk Road.

The Expo covered an area of 26 thousand square meters， with 603 booths and 380 exhibitors in Shishi Clothing City. The exhibits covered many fields， including Quanzhou MS brand culture， apparel， home accessories， special food， agricultural products， traditional handicrafts； intelligent manufacturing， health care ， etc..

Since 1992， Shishi has hold a dozen clothingbased commodities fairs in succession， and finally positioned the fairs as Straits Textile Clothing Fair. As the national and international clothing fair， STCF aimed to promote the development of textile and apparel industry of Shishi， even to Fujian province， and continually expand the grade and scale of the exhibition， with the concepts of meeting in clothing city to develop market， as well as towards Taiwan， profession， leisure and fashion.

It was the 20th session of STCF， with main exhibition area in Shishi International Textile City. In addition， there were three sub-display areas. The main exhibition area covered 62，000 square meters， with 625 exhibitors. During the three days， STCF attracted nearly 28，600 visitors， including 3，159 buyers from Fujian， Zhejiang， Guangdong， Jiangsu， Xinjiang， and other provinces of China， as well as Italy， Myanmar， Japan， Pakistan， Afghanistan， Iraq， Yemen， Egypt， Libya， Jordan， Malaysia and other countries. There were one promotion conference and 12 professional seminars， which provided good opportunities for 220 buyers and 280 suppliers to negotiate face to face. According to feedback survey， more than 60% enterprises praised the high degree of professionalism of STCF and were willing to continue to participate in the fair next year.

Leveraging MSR to realize global win-win situation

Since the MSR Expo settled in Shishi last year，“the Belt and Road Initiative” has become an important label for the expo， and the expo was no longer confined to textile and apparel industry of straits. “The Belt and Road Initiative” provided a precious platform for both domestic and international brands to enter new markets. The expo attracted nearly 40 countries and regions along the Maritime Silk Road， such as Thailand， South Korea， Italy， Mongolia， Sri Lanka， Japan Okinawa， Jordan， Iran， Spain， France， the United States and so on.

There were six halls representing brand cultures of Quanzhou. In addition， “Quanzhou Trademark hall” and“Cross-border E-commerce Area” also displayed the achievement and new directions of economic construction， brand construction in Quanzhou. As one of the highlights of this Fair， Intelligent Manufacturing Hall and European Innovation Hall gathered European innovation industry resources to promote strategic emerging industries and drive the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. The European Innovation Hall invited innovative industrial enterprises from Sweden， Netherlands， Finland， Germany， Denmark， Belgium and other European countries to participate， in the fields of intelligent manufacturing， big data， artificial intelligence， smarter healthcare and so on.

Focus on industrial transformation and upgrading

As the first and the only profession textile and apparel fair with the title of “Strait”， the fair regarded “Taiwan Plate” as the biggest highlight. 23 Taiwan Taiwanese enterprises participated as a group， covering a total area of 400 square meters， to exhibit various products like men and women garment， childrens wear， underwear， fabrics and textile machinery and others.

During the exhibition， there were brilliant supporting activities about industrial transformation and upgrading. Shishi is not only “Chinas Casual Clothing City”， but also source of “Min Group Apparel”， as well as the cradle to breed excellent designers. During April 24th to 27th， 2017 SHISHI Fashion Week was gorgeously staged with nearly 20 shows， which got over the fixed frame of“pure T show” and sought the best match of “Industry+ Fashion” to create a great atmosphere and endow the fashion week a richer content and display carrier.

China （Quanzhou） Maritime Silk Road International Brand Expo has witnessed the transformation of China textile and apparel industry from quantity-orientation to quality-orientation， from a single market to two markets， from product output to culture output. While the two fairs reflected not only the switch of platform， but also the industrial transformation and upgrading， acceleration of regional economy as well as common prosperity and progress of global development.