China, Estonia, Good for Business, Markets and Companies, Technology, Transport

Photo: mkm.ee

Estonian transport and communications companies active in e-commerce are having meetings with partners in China this week to find opportunities for increasing the transport of e-goods via Estonia.

Viljar Lubi, deputy secretary general of the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications for economic development, said that the purpose of the visit is to discuss the action plan for the next six months under an agreement on cooperation in e-commerce and ICT signed with China in last November.

"It is our interest that flows of Chinese goods through Estonia increase by means of e-commerce platforms," Lubi said in a press release.

"An outcome like this requires good cooperation domestically with the fields of transport and logistics and with the Tax and Customs Board, as well as internationally with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce," Lubi said.

At a meeting with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, further promotion of cooperation between Estonia and China in e-commerce was discussed. All the meetings were attended by business executives from Estonia.

According to Lubi, China is interested in cooperation with Estonia, finding Estonia's fast handling of business and low level of bureaucracy to be impressive, in addition to the country's good location. This is demonstrated also by the experience of the Chinese-Estonian joint venture Post11.

The Estonian officials and businesspeople met with Sami Farhad, vice president at Alibaba Group for global business.

"Farhad thanked for the cooperation that we have had to date in the direction China-Estonia and encouraged Estonian businesses, especially those in e-commerce, to engage more in sales work and offer their products and services when it comes to China," said Joona Saluveer, board chairman of the Estonian state-owned postal company Omniva.

The Estonian ambassador to China, Marten Kokk, said that he sees Estonian-Chinese cooperation in e-commerce as having great potential. "Enlivening of e-commerce is a global megatrend, which is characterized not only by an increase in the numbers of e-commerce stores and different services in recent years, but also by a rapid increase in the volumes of logistics and postal services -- more active use of parcel terminals and courier services and the emergence of new service providers," Kokk said.

In addition to the meeting with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, business executives from Estonia and China discussed cooperation opportunities at a roundtable meeting attended by Omniva, Tallinn Airport, EVR Cargo, Boomerang Distribution, GTS Express, Lexit Technologies from Estonia, and the Chinese companies Alibaba, JD Group, Huawei, SF Express, China International E-Commerce Co. Ltd.

In the course of the same visit, meetings will take place with China's National Development and Reform Commission, CITIC Group and Huawei. Meetings have also been scheduled with Chinese businesses, and a business seminar will be held to highlight the opportunities of digtal China and trends in e-commerce.

The meetings are organized by Enterprise Estonia in collaboration with the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the Estonian embassy in Beijing.

The visit is a follow-up to the agreements on economic cooperation signed during a trip of Estonia's Minister of Entrepreneurship and IT Urve Palo to China last year.