First International Coffee Culture Festival in China Chongqing Unveils a Coffee-driven Multilateral Cooperation and Win-win Business Relation

□ Article/Journalist Xiong Yi Tr. by He Jing

First International Coffee Culture Festival in China Chongqing Unveils a Coffee-driven Multilateral Cooperation and Win-win Business Relation

□ Article/Journalist Xiong Yi Tr. by He Jing

Coffee brands that garner great popularity, MAAN Coffee, ZOOCOFFEE, and I'm Cafe coffee will set their headquarters in Liangjiang New Area; besides, a number of well-known coffee companies have signed agreements with Chongqing Coffee Trading Center;it goes without saying that in the near future, coffee lovers can pick the world's high-quality coffee with more convenience at the Travel platforms like the Chongqing Expressway service areas, gas stations, sightseeing cruise, etc. From November 24 to November 26, during the First (2017) Chongqing Liangjiang International Coffee Culture and Art Festival (hereafter will be short referred to as “Coffee Festival”), good news are heard frequently. Over 200 governmental and business representatives from Italy, Japan, Ethiopia and Laos, as well as over 200 guests from all walks of life, including the Municipal Commission of Economic Information,the Municipal Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office and the Municipal Commission of Commerce,attended the opening ceremony and related activities.Chongqing took the lead in revealing this coffee festival, which came as a grand cultural event in the coffee industry across the nation. For the first time,the organizers of the festival endeavored to combine the forms prevalent in the international coffee industry,like coffee forums, exhibitions and cultural days,with the unique emerging economy and culture of Chongqing’s Liangjiang New District. A multitude of coffee-themed art forms are unveiled: “Belt and Road”International Coffee Industry Summit, Coffee Products and Equipment Fair, Ethiopia Day, 2018 China Barista Championship (CBC) • Chongqing, DIY Creative Market, “My Coffee Story” Exhibition, which has offered a coffee culture feast for domestic and foreign coffee practitioners and lovers.

Disseminate Coffee Culture and Facilitate the Development of Coffee Industry

China boasts of a huge coffee consumption market,and in recent years it has maintained a growth rate of about 20%. Chongqing is the only municipality directly under the Central Government and a national central city in the western part of the country. The Liangjiang New Area is a pivotal gateway for the opening of Chongqing as a hinterland. Liangjiang New Area gives full play to its advantages as a junction endowed by the national initiative “Belt and Road” and the Yangtze River Economic Belt, seizing opportunities of the China-Singapore Demonstrative Project on Strategic Connectivity, and the Chongqing Pilot Free Trade Zone. Represented by Chongqing Coffee Trading Center, Chongqing Energy Import and Export Co.,Ltd., a group of outstanding coffee businesses are on a rapid rise, forcefully boosting the formation of a full industrial chain covering coffee re-export trade, trading,processing, warehousing, logistics. Since opening in June 2016, the spot trading volume of coffee in Chongqing Coffee Trading Center has exceeded 12 billion yuan and has become the largest electronic coffee trading platform in China.

The Coffee Festival was sponsored by the Chongqing Liangjiang New Area Administration Committee, Chongqing Energy Investment Group Co., Ltd., Chongqing Liangjiang New Area Industrial Development Group Co., Ltd., and hosted by the Chongqing Liangjiang New Area Economic Management Bureau, Chongqing Hi-Tech Group Co., Ltd., Chongqing Coffee Trading Center Co.,Ltd., Chongqing Energy Import and Export Co., Ltd.Organizers of the event said that coffee energy-saving will advance the spreading and popularizing of the coffee culture, promoting the coffee-dominated coffee industry and coffee culture to be a new business card in Liangjiang New Area and even broader Chongqing.As such, coffee will become a driver for promoting the synergy of “Belt and Road” international cooperation.Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and Africa’s largest coffee-growing country with a high quality of coffee resources. Senior Ethiopian government officials attending the opening ceremony of the Coffee Festival said, “China has the most potential consumer market for coffee in the world. On the 47th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Ethiopia, I hope the two sides are ready to work together to create a better tomorrow for the coffee industry in both countries.”

In 2017, the Chongqing “One Belt, One Road”International Coffee Industry Summit had the topic for discussion : “How the ‘One Belt and One Road’Shapes the New Pattern of International Coffee Trade and Brought about New Developments in the Global Coffee Industry”. 9 representatives in the coffee area,including Li Jianbin, deputy director of the Economic Operation Bureau of Liangjiang New Area; Ethiopian representative; Lao representative, I’m Cafe director,ROK; Peng De, general manger of Chongqing Coffee Trading Center Co., Ltd.; Le Tien Hung, general manager of Simexco, Vietnamese coffee company;Emily Chua yan bin, general manager of Bero Coffee Singapore, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe; Zhang Hongchen, director of France’s Louis Dreyfus Kunming Office and the manager of Itochu Singapore Coffee Trade Division, shared their views on the new changes“Belt and Road” might bring about to the coffee production, trade, logistics, and consumption etc., and they also had a further thematic discussion on the“Development of China’s Coffee Industry and its Future Market Opportunities”.

Ethiopian Theme Day in the Coffee Festival

In recent years, the cooperation between Chongqing and Ethiopia has become increasingly closer. Many Chongqing enterprises have invested in Ethiopia. On November 25th, “Ethiopia Day”, an important event of this year’s Coffee Festival, was held in Liangjiang Art Commercial Center, Liangjiang New Area. The organizers of the event and the Consulate General of Ethiopia in Chongqing jointly invited Ethiopia's trade departments and business representatives to attend.

“The reason why coffee, which was found 1000 years ago in the highlands of Ethiopia, has become one of the most popular drinks in the world today is that the air when people drink coffee together can create a chemical reaction and beauty”. Ethiopia’s trade of fi cials said that Ethiopia has played an important role in the global “coffee value chain” and, with its the fertility of the production base, Ethiopia has become the best place for coffee investment of China and the world.

Guests present watched the “Dream Comes True”, a promotion video co-released by China and Ethiopia.During the filming, three Ethiopian girls dressed in traditional Ethiopian costumes stepped onto the stage to show the audience the traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony gracefully and elegantly, and had the cooked coffee tasted by the audience.

Following that, the representatives of the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Bureau and Ethiopian Airlines made a detailed presentation respectively on the country’s coffee and tourism industries. A series of Ethiopian song and dance performances and other theme activities, simmering with intense coffee atmosphere and exotic feature, drew a host of spectators in and interacted with the performers. The spectators expressed their love and longing for Ethiopia, a mysterious and beautiful country.

At the same day, “Ethiopian Trade Fair & Ethiopian Day” was also held in Chongqing Coffee Trading Center. The Ethiopian delegation and Chongqing Coffee Trade Center conducted extensive exchanges on coffee-related trade and cooperation, cultural exchange, staff training and technological innovation.

(Pictures are provided by the host)