Guangdong Provincial Council for the Promotion of Trade with Russia Holds Economic and Trade Symposium with Delegations from Malawi and Malaysia to Explore New Spaces for Multilateral Cooperation

By Guangdong Provincial Council for the Promotion of Trade with Russia

On June 11, 2026, the Guangdong Provincial Council for the Promotion of Trade with Russia held an economic and trade cooperation exchange symposium with delegations from the Republic of Malawi and the Federation of Malaysia at the Guangdong Foreign Economic and Trade Building in Tianhe District, Guangzhou.

The delegation was led by Jani Grey Kasunda, the 2030 presidential candidate of the Republic of Malawi and leader of The People’s Revolution, and Peng Weihan, Commercial Vice Consul of the Consulate General of the Federation of Malaysia in Guangzhou. Hou Guonan, Chairman of Guangzhou Bi’an Information Technology Co., Ltd.; Huang Weijian, Deputy President and Director of the International Communication Center of Gonggong News Agency; and Yin Zheng, Executive Director of the International Communication Center of Gonggong News Agency, attended the meeting accompanying the delegations.

Leaders, including Zhang Guangjian, Executive President of the Guangdong Provincial Council for the Promotion of Trade with Russia; Bi Yajun, Executive Vice President; and Chu Yueting, Special Advisor, warmly received representatives from all parties.

The two sides conducted in-depth discussions on the feasibility of cooperation between Guangdong Province and Malawi and Malaysia in the fields of economy and trade, investment, cultural communication and others, and reached a number of preliminary consensuses.

The symposium aimed to enhance mutual understanding among all parties, tap into industrial complementary advantages and build a cross-regional economic and trade cooperation bridge.

Executive President Zhang Guangjian first delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the Guangdong Provincial Council for the Promotion of Trade with Russia, introducing the development history and core functions of the council to the visiting guests.

He stated that as a professional economic and trade service platform under the business supervision of the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province, the council has established close ties with 16 local governments and 8 business associations in Russia since its establishment in 2024.

In 2025, it received more than 60 inspection delegations from various countries and held 18 procurement matchmaking meetings.

As the “Factory of the World”, Guangdong has 10 trillion-yuan-level industrial clusters, and its products cover 80% of Russia’s procurement demand, showing significant complementarity with various countries in terms of resources, markets and technologies.

The council is willing to rely on its own platform advantages to replicate and extend its mature experience in Russia cooperation to the Malawi and Malaysia markets, providing comprehensive services such as procurement matchmaking, trade settlement, legal consultation and business inspection tours for enterprises from the three parties.

Jani Grey Kasunda, the 2030 presidential candidate of the Republic of Malawi, systematically introduced the current economic development situation and investment potential of Malawi.

He pointed out that Malawi, known as “the Warm Heart of Africa”, has long-term political stability and warm and friendly people.

Although it currently faces challenges such as slowing GDP growth and public debt pressure, it contains huge development opportunities in five major fields: agriculture, mining, energy, tourism and digitalization.

As the pillar of Malawi’s economy, agriculture faces an annual supply gap of about 2 billion US dollars in soybeans and peanuts in the Chinese market, and there is an urgent need for investment in the construction of modern processing plants, irrigation systems and cold chain logistics.

The Kasiya Project boasts the world’s top natural rutile deposits and the second-largest flake graphite deposits, which are rich in heavy rare earth elements essential for electric vehicles and wind power equipment.

The Mpatamanga Hydropower Station project, with a total investment of over 1.5 billion US dollars, has received a 350 million US dollar grant from the World Bank, which will help Malawi achieve its goal of 1,000 megawatts of installed capacity by 2030.

He promised that if elected president in 2030, he would build Malawi into the most business-friendly and transparent investment destination in Southern Africa and fully protect the rights and interests of investors from all countries.

Peng Weihan, Commercial Vice Consul of the Consulate General of the Federation of Malaysia in Guangzhou, shared the achievements and prospects of bilateral trade between Malaysia and China.

He introduced that Malaysia’s total trade volume exceeded 715.95 billion US dollars in 2025, hitting a record high.

China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner for many consecutive years, with bilateral trade volume reaching 126.81 billion US dollars.

Malaysia has signed and implemented 17 Free Trade Agreements covering 24 countries, which can facilitate Guangdong enterprises to enter the global market with a population of 4 billion.

Currently, Malaysia is focusing on developing industries such as semiconductors, electric vehicles, digital economy and green technology, and has launched a new incentive framework that took effect in March 2026, providing preferential policies such as special tax rates and investment tax relief.

The Commercial Office of the Consulate General of the Federation of Malaysia in Guangzhou and the Guangzhou Office of the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation are willing to deepen cooperation with the Guangdong Provincial Council for the Promotion of Trade with Russia, and promote pragmatic cooperation in the fields of electrical and electronic products, halal food, biomedicine and new energy by jointly holding exhibitions and organizing business inspection delegations.

Hou Guonan, Chairman of Guangzhou Bi’an Information Technology Co., Ltd., introduced the business model and service capabilities of “Bi’an OPB Global Sourcing Officer”.

As a technology enterprise focusing on cross-border brand services, Bi’an OPB has served more than 2,000 brands in 37 countries around the world.

It officially launched Chinese brand overseas services in 2025, focusing on developing the global Muslim market with a population of 2 billion, and is an authorized partner in China of BPJPH, Indonesia’s official halal certification body.

The company can provide enterprises with one-stop solutions, including certification handling, market research, exhibition customer expansion, supply chain integration and e-commerce operation outsourcing, and has established a sound sales channel and local inventory system in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

Hou Guonan expressed his willingness to rely on his own service advantages in the halal market to help products from Guangdong’s advantageous industries such as home appliances, textiles and food enter the Malawi and Malaysia markets, and at the same time introduce the characteristic products of the two countries into China.

Yin Zheng, Executive Director of the International Communication Center of Gonggong News Agency, introduced the global communication layout of Gonggong News Agency and its foundation for cooperation with Malawi and Malaysia.

He stated that Gonggong News Agency is an international Chinese-language media approved and established by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, with branches in 13 countries and regions around the world, and has established strategic cooperative relations with hundreds of overseas Chinese-language media.

Recently, Gonggong News Agency has reached in-depth cooperation with Malawi Guardian, the third-largest newspaper in Malawi, and is promoting the establishment of its China Representative Office in Guangzhou.

In the future, a normalized mechanism for content exchange, joint interviews and resource sharing will be established.

Yin Zheng put forward four cooperation initiatives:

First, jointly build the “Guangdong-Malaysia-Malawi Economic and Trade Information Sharing Platform” to release policy updates and market demands in a timely manner.

Second, build an international communication matrix for “Guangdong Enterprises Going Global” to provide enterprises with brand promotion and public opinion early warning services.

Third, jointly hold activities such as economic and trade cultural weeks and investment promotion conferences.

Fourth, deepen cooperation in overseas Chinese-related fields and give play to the bridging role of overseas Chinese.

At the end of the symposium, representatives from all parties conducted interactive exchanges on specific cooperation projects and reached preliminary cooperation intentions in the fields of agricultural product processing, mineral resource development, digital infrastructure construction and joint media communication.

President Zhang Guangjian stated that the Guangdong Provincial Council for the Promotion of Trade with Russia will take this symposium as an opportunity to set up a special working group to follow up and implement various cooperation matters, promote the tripartite cooperation from intention to implementation, and jointly inject new impetus into the high-quality development of the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.