On October 18, Promotion meeting on e-commerce between China and Iceland was held at the Chinese Embassy In Iceland. Chinese Ambassador Jin Zhijian and nearly 100 representatives from Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA), Ministry of Industries and Innovation(MII), Directorate of Customs (DOC), Icelandic Chinese Trade Council(ICTC), Fisheries Iceland(SFS), Chamber of Chinese Association in Iceland (CCAI)and local enterprises attended the event.
Ambassador Jin made an overall introduction on the current development, related incentive polices and measures and future development opportunities of China’s e-commerce. He pointed out that China had become the world’s largest e-commerce and e-retail transaction market with rapid growth. With the implementation of innovation driven strategy, integration of industry internet and e-commerce, and fast development of digital economy, China’s e-commerce enjoys bright prospect. In September 2018, China and Iceland decided to set up a working group on e-commerce and signed a MOU on the establishment of the working group. Since then, the bilateral cooperation in e-commerce has entered a fast track. At present, China is one of the most popular destinations of online shopping for Icelandic people. A bunch of Icelandic famous enterprises such as Bioeffect, Blamar and so on have successively built business connections with China’s major e-commerce platforms like Tmall, JD etc., and Alipay(payment platform) entered Icelandic market in 2018, growing at a fast speed. It is certain that e-commerce will become a new engine to promote cooperation between China and Iceland in the fields such as trade and tourism. It is hoped that enterprises from both countries could seize the opportunity and take advantage of the e-commerce platforms to enhance bilateral trade.
Ms. Nina Bjork Jonsdottir, Director of Service Section, Directorate of External Trade and Economic Affairs of MFA, Mr. Pétur Th. Óskarsson, CEO of Promote Iceland, Mr. Maverick Fang, Director of EU Region BD & KA,Tmall Global Import of Alibaba Group, Mr. David Li Tong, Chairman of CCAI respectively delivered a speech, speaking highly of the sound development of China’s e-commerce and progress in cooperation in e-commerce between China and Iceland. They expressed high expectation for the prospect of bilateral cooperation in e-commerce in the future.
All the speakers including Ambassador Jin also answered questions raised by the participants, who highly commended the promotion meeting held by the Embassy. They believed that the introductions by Ambassador Jin and others were comprehensive and practical, expecting further growth of cooperation in e-commerce between the two countries in the future. Mr. Pétur Th. Óskarsson and Mr. Maverick Fang co-signed the Letter of Intent on cooperation between Promote Iceland and Tmall Global in e-commerce at the meeting.
