Denmark eyes to promote high-quality products and local tourism at CIIE

(File Photo)

The China International Import Expo (CIIE), a sign of China’s determination on reform and opening-up, will be held from Nov. 5 to 10 in Shanghai. As the world’s first large-scale national exhibition themed on worldwide imports, the event will see more than 3,000 enterprises from some 130 countries and regions. Recognizing it as a great opportunity to deepen mutual cooperation, Demark’s government will bring various national products to this event, and held a “Greenland Day” event at its embassy in Beijing on Tuesday to promote local tourism and high-quality products.

More than 10 Danish companies, including Danish Specialty Foods Aps, Danish Carlsberg Group, and Danish Crown Group, will showcase their products at CIIE, according to a release by the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Denmark. Besides these well-known brands, Demark’s government also hopes to boost another name card: Greenland.

Featuring snow-covered mountains, permanent ice caps, the amazing Northern Lights, and whales swimming freely in Azure Ocean, Greenland has always been a dream destination for travelers. However, compared to other tourist sites in Northern Europe, Greenland still remains a niche sightseeing place for Chinese outbound visitors.

Greenland’s government plans to offer more unique traveling experiences by upgrading its abundant national tourism sites and infrastructure to attract more Chinese visitors, said Mads Lumholt, a senior advisor of Greenland’s tourist administration at the “Greenland Day” event.

Besides directly flying to this icy world, Chinese consumers can also taste Greenland’s exotic feeling through its newly-introduced Greenland Ice Cap Water.

Driven by high awareness of water source quality, China has experienced robust growth in the bottled water market. In 2015, China consumed 37 billion liters of bottled water, more than any other country, and reached 40 billion liters a year after, accounting for nearly 17 percent of global consumption, Jørn Skov Nielsen, Greenland’s deputy minister of the Ministry of Industry and Energy, said at the “Greenland Day” event. Nielsen also predicts that demand for healthy hydration products will continue to increase due to pollution.

At the event, a representative from Greenland presented bottled water sourced from 10-thousand-year-old Arctic ice water.

Having the world’s richest aggregate freshwater resources, Greenland has large-scale unexploited potential for the production and export of water. To seize this commercial opportunity, the local government has launched a series of comprehensive strategies including launching targeted marketing campaigns and creating a better business environment.

Greenland’s government is conducting water quality examinations in extraction locations and will ease export regulations to attract more investment, including from Chinese investors, said Dr. Andreas P. Ahlstrøm, a chief advisor for Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.

In addition to 10-thousand-year-old ice cap water, Greenland is also seeking cooperation with China in many other fields, especially in the field of energy.

Currently, 70 percent of the energy used in Greenland comes from hydropower and the government wants to equip the rest of the country with clean energy by the end of 2030.

Greenland’s government said it is willing to share knowledge with China in green energy utilization. Furthermore, as a country with low population density, Greenland also expects to learn from China’s successful experiences in the construction of energy stations, especially in remote areas covered by ice, according to Aqqalu Jerimiassen, Greenland’s minister of the Ministry of Industry and Energy.