Qingtian county holds the Overseas Chinese Imported Commodities Expo every year. [Photo/WeChat account: qttv578]

The commerce department of East China's Zhejiang province on Jan 20 announced it would set up a linkage area in Qingtian county – administered by Lishui city in the province – for the China-CEEC Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Zone which is located in Zhejiang's Ningbo city.

Qingtian, which is home to 330,000 overseas Chinese, is said to have a natural advantage in developing the trade in imports with Central and Eastern European, or CEE countries.

According to the statistics from the overseas Chinese affairs department in Qingtian, there are currently more than 80,000 overseas Chinese from Qingtian in these countries. They are mainly engaged in international trade with an annual turnover of over 20 billion yuan ($3.14 billion).

Qingtian has organized its enterprises to participate in the China-CEEC Expo & International Consumer Goods Fair – an annual trade event held in Zhejiang's Ningbo city – for three consecutive years. The transaction value involving Qingtian in the third show in 2020 alone topped 200 million yuan.

In the Zhejiang Qingtian Imported Commodity City in Qingtian, there are 10 overseas traders specializing in imported products from CEE countries, bringing together more than 20,000 goods from them. The goods include wine, beer and sunflower seed oil. 

In addition, relying on its overseas sales network Qingtian has established 16 overseas shops in five CEE countries, such as the Czech Republic and Serbia.

These outlets, selling Qingtian's agricultural products, are estimated to have generated cumulative export sales worth $60 million.