Guangzhou Deepens China-Singapore Cooperation to Boost High-Level Opening-Up; Chairman Xia Yang Invited

Summary

CCPIT Guangzhou hosted the 2026 Guangzhou Trade Promotion Work Conference in Tianhe District on March 19, summarising 2025 trade promotion achievements and setting out key tasks for 2026. Deputy Director Huang Xiaofeng chaired the meeting. Xia Yang – head of the CCPIT Guangzhou New Zealand Liaison Office, chairman of AFC Group New Zealand and chairman of Yunshijie Network Technology Co.

, Ltd. – attended as an invited guest and gave a special exchange speech. The liaison office, he said, is an overseas economic and trade representative office authorised by CCPIT Guangzhou, and works with the New Zealand Guangdong Chamber of Commerce to build a bridge for economic and trade cooperation between Guangzhou and New Zealand and to smooth China-New Zealand trade channels.

On the city's 2026 trade promotion deployment, Xia Yang proposed four directions: leverage the government-enterprise bridge role to promote deep cooperation between Guangzhou and New Zealand in trade, investment, culture and tourism, and science and technology; strengthen economic and trade promotion platforms by running branded exhibitions well and upgrading overseas warehouses and exhibition and sales centres; enhance localised service capabilities to help Guangzhou enterprises go global and bring quality New Zealand resources in; and use overseas Chinese as a bridge to unite global Guangdong merchants. Xia Yang also said that, under the guidance of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, efforts will be accelerated to develop and promote a vertical AI large model for international trade in food and agricultural products, to promote the settlement of the China Food Import and Export Exhibition and Trading Center and Big Data Center in Guangzhou, and to help the Global Guangdong Merchants Guangzhou Home project land in Tianhe. At the close of the meeting, CCPIT Guangzhou director Chen Simin delivered the city trade promotion work report.

Commentary

CCPIT Guangzhou has included the New Zealand liaison office in its 2026 key work and plans to upgrade overseas warehouses and exhibition and sales centres through the Yunshijie platform, offering new channel trial opportunities for small and medium-sized New Zealand food and agricultural product enterprises. China is New Zealand's largest trading partner, and food and beverages account for an important share of exports to China. But leading companies such as Fonterra and Zespri dominate, while small and medium-sized brands are often constrained by distribution networks and compliance costs.

Yunshijie claims to cover data from 60 countries, 35,000 members and nearly one million consumer-side traffic, and its Yunshihui vertical AI large model covers 12 links including supply-demand matching, compliance review and intelligent customs declaration, which in theory can reduce information costs caused by non-tariff barriers. The actual quality of buyers on the platform, order conversion rates and data authenticity still need to be independently verified by New Zealand companies. Guangzhou, as a consumer centre in South China and a distribution hub for imported food, is expected to provide display and matchmaking scenarios for New Zealand's small and medium-sized specialty products – such as honey, pet food and functional dairy products – with the help of CCPIT networks and Guangdong Chamber of Commerce resources.

Competition with similar products from Australia and the EU, however, will be more direct. New Zealand companies should pay attention to the real traffic and category fit after the Guangzhou Food Import and Export Exhibition and Trading Center is launched, rather than just looking at membership numbers. The recommendation is to first obtain a local distributor directory through the New Zealand Guangdong Chamber of Commerce or the liaison office, and to test the efficiency of Yunshijie's B2B matchmaking.

Keywords: Guangzhou Council for the Promotion of International Trade, New Zealand Liaison Office, Xia Yang, China-New Zealand Economic and Trade Cooperation, Cloud Food World, AI Large Model for Food and Agricultural Products, Guangzhou High-Level Opening-Up, Chen Simin, Cloud Food Wisdom, China Food Import and Export Exhibition and Trading Center

Source: Cloud Food World Efoodline