20.05.2023 / The 12th Consultative Board Meeting of APACCCEEC took place in Ningbo on May 19th, along with a side event for honey and tea

The 12th Мeeting of the Consultative Board of APACCCEEC took place in May 19th 2023 in Ningbo, China and it was in hybrid format (in person and online). This event coincided with the Third China-CEE Expo and International Consumer Goods Fair in Ningbo, China.

The Meeting was presided over by the Director of the APACCCEEC, Dr. Momchil Stanishev, and was attended by Members of the Consultative Board from the countries of the China-CEE Cooperation Initiative, as well as representatives of diplomatic missions from the CEE countries based in China.

Opening remarks of the Meeting, were given by Dr. Momchil Stanishev, who presented to the Members of the Board the activities carried out since the beginning of the year, among which were:

• Participation in the International Food and Beverage Exhibition Detrop-Helexpo Thessaloniki, Greece. Five companies from the food and beverages sector took part in the APACCCEEC Pavilion, including producers of honey, wine, beer, delicacies;
• Presentation of new opportunities for Small and Medium enterprises – Seminars in different cities of Bulgaria;
• Conducting the Pilot edition of the Accelerator Program for Agricultural Startups, where twenty finalists from the Initiative’s Member States were given the opportunity to make contacts with successful companies, to develop their capabilities in terms of development of their projects;
• Within the framework of the Meeting, the new initiative for analytical reports was also presented, which acquaints the public with the current state of the economy of the countries that are part of the Initiative.

In the presentation were also mentioned the future aims of APACCCEEC for 2023:

• Participating in the “Dragon Boat Festival’’, where the APACCCEEC is co-organizer of the event and will arrange own pavilion on which the culinary traditions of CEE countries will be demonstrated.
• Participation in the International exhibition for food and beverages “China International Import Expo” in Shanghai in November. APACCCEEC will organize its own Pavilion, where companies from Central and Eastern Europe will present their products.

The 12th Meeting of the Consultative Board continued with a speech of Mr Peng Tiangjun, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Department of The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of PRC, as a speech was also given by the Mr Zhong Guanhua, Deputy Secretary of Ningbo Municipal Committee.

Presentation of the development of the apiculture and honey products was delivered by Mr. Yang Lei, Director of Science and Technology Department of Bee Institute.

Mrs Liu Yan, Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Department of ATPC-MARA, delivered a presentation on high-tech products in agriculture that help CEE exhibitors.

During the Meeting of the Consultative Board, the opportunities for export and import related to agricultural products, as well as investment cooperation in the sector, were discussed. Among the proposals of the participants in the Board is the creation of easier access for trade between the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and China and ideas were put forward at the next meeting of the Consultative Board to optimize relations with the Customs authorities of the People`s Republic of China.

Representatives of Chinese enterprises presented their activities and good practices in working with counterpart organizations from CEE.

Before the Meeting of the Consultative Board, a side event “When Tea meets Honey” – China-CEEC Trade Promotion Activities for Agricultural Products was held. This meeting showed the benefits of Chinese tea, the possibilities of importing and exporting honey products from CEE to China, as well as the options for promoting that type of products. The program of the event included the import and export of traditional tea production, as welcoming speeches to the audience were given by Dr. Momchil Stanishev, Director of APACCCEEC, Mr Peng Tiangjun, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Department of The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of PRC, Mr Guo Rong, Inspector of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Agricultural and Rural Affairs. In the Tea and Honey forum on a special stand were exhibited food and beverage products from Central and Eastern European countries.