Mr. Frank Zhou, president of Sunrise Group expressed his honor to be invited by Alibaba to attend Gateway 17 in Toronto as a guest. In the early morning of September 25, Jack Ma, executive chairman and founder of the Alibaba Group, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered key speeches at the conference, which was attended by more than 3,600 people, at the Toronto Exhibition Place.

The Canadian SME Forum was held in Toronto on September 25. The event will help Canadian SMEs, young people and entrepreneurs understand the opportunities in China and recognize the fast-growing needs of Chinese consumers for imported products and overseas travel experiences.

“The United States was the Canadian market in the past, but now this situation will gradually change.” Said Mr. Ma, “China is the largest market in Canada.” He advocates Canadian companies to do business with Chinese people, saying that Alibaba is the gateway to China.

Mr. Ma said: “China may become the biggest opportunity for Canadian companies. At the Canadian SME Forum, we will discuss the bright future between China & Canada”

Mr. Ma mentioned that the number of Chinese middle class will reach 600 million in the next five years, and China’s total retail sales will reach 7.7 trillion yuan by 2020, almost the sum of Canada and the United States. China’s e-commerce accounted for 37% of the retail market, while Canada has only 10%. In 2016, 70% of consumers in China were young people between 24 and 32 years old, which shows that the market has great potential. In 2016, 600,000 Chinese tourists came to Canada. The most popular Canadian products for Chinese include fresh food, crops, health, nutrition products and daily consumer products.

Prime Minister Trudeau delivered a speech to vigorously promote that Canada has a bright future from business development to national development.

Alibaba President Michael Evans said that Chinese consumers provide Canadian companies with huge opportunities for business growth. “There are more people running around in China with Canada Goose jackets on than you can believe,” Evans said.

President Frank Zhou said that he was very pleased to see the Chinese Ambassador to Canada, His Excellency LU Shaye, and the Canadian Ambassador to China, His Excellency John McCullum, as well as many friends and entrepreneurs who worked in the Canadian federal government and provincial governments.

 

The meeting pointed out that the number of Chinese middle class will reach 600 million in the next five years, and China’s total retail sales will reach 7.7 trillion yuan by 2020. The market is huge, and we look forward to more business cooperation between China and Canada. The importance of the Canadian three-tier government to the Chinese market is obvious to all. Several federal ministers and several governors attended the meeting. The president Frank Zhou expressed his pleasure to meet again with President of Alibaba Group Michael Evans.