Just seven years ago, Peruvian entrepreneur Ysabel Zea and her Chinese business partner brought a few handcrafted alpaca wool toys to a trade expo in China. Today, her company Warmpaca sells over 10,000 plushies a month, transforming the lives of 300 Peruvian artisan families.
By participating in the China International Import Expo, Zea turned a dream into a global business and helped preserve a centuries-old craft rooted in the Andes. Her story is a powerful example of how inclusive trade can drive sustainable development, which was celebrated this week at a UN seminar in Geneva.
"For so many artisans in Peru, the dream of displaying their products in international markets has been for so long just a dream," said Zea at the seminar "Advancing the Sustainable Development Agenda — The China International Import Expo in Action", held at Palais des Nations, the United Nations Office at Geneva, on Wednesday.
Zea told the story of Oswaldo Mamani, one of the Peruvian craftsmen who worked very hard to provide for his family but could only sell a few of his handicrafts in the local market.
The change began when Zea and her Chinese business partner rented a 9-square-meter exhibition area, the smallest booth, at the China International Import Expo in 2018, the country's first national-level trade fair focused on imports.
Now, the adorable plushies made by Peruvian craftsmen like Mamani can be found in more than 20 cities across China, and more than 100 shopping malls in countries including Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.
Inclusive platform
Since its inception, CIIE, taking place in Shanghai in November every year, has become a significant platform for international trade and a symbol of China's commitment to opening up its market.
Over the past seven years, it has evolved into the nation's flagship initiative for open trade and cooperation, attracting thousands of exhibitors from more than 120 countries and regions.
Luis Juan Chuquihuara Chil, Peru's ambassador to the UN Office in Geneva, after listening to the seminar and Zea's story, noted that trade has long been recognized as a powerful enabler of growth, poverty reduction, and sustainable development.
"We welcome China's engagement through various initiatives such as the CIIE, in which enterprises of my country have participated, and various regional and bilateral trade facilitation platforms," Chuquihuara Chil said.
"These initiatives have provided tangible support to many developing countries through investment in trade infrastructure, technology transfer, and capacity building — all of which are necessary to bridge the development gap," he added.
Chen Xu, China's ambassador to the UN Office in Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland, noted that conflicts, unilateralism and geopolitical tensions have brought severe challenges to the cause of international development.
"As a public good for supporting globalization and building an open world economy, the CIIE helps developing countries to boost export, alleviate poverty and stimulate growth, demonstrating China's commitment to global development cooperation," Chen said, adding that, through the expo, products like alpaca wool from Peru, rice from Cambodia and cashew nuts from Tanzania have reached Chinese consumers.
Dorothy Tembo, deputy executive director of the International Trade Centre, said the mission of ITC is to help small and medium-sized enterprises grow, compete and trade, "and events like the CIIE show what this can look like in practice — and how this can make a difference for SMEs across world regions".
Wu Zhengping, deputy director-general of the CIIE Bureau, said the expo has been making efforts to advance the UN's 2030 sustainable development agenda through collaborative, inclusive, innovative, and effective approaches.
For Zea of the alpaca wool goods company, the experience of the CIIE means more than just doing business.
"Cooperation has made us stronger, and that's why it's important for us to be here and tell the story to the world that we will have so much development if we could just be together in peace and work together as one planet," she said.
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