Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    THE Spain National Pavilion, a trade and exhibition platform for imported products from Spain, was put into use at Building C of the Yantian Port Modern Logistics Center on Friday.

    The pavilion will offer integrated logistics, trade and financial settlement services for import business with Spain. It will be a new channel and new model for Spanish manufacturers and brand-name products to access the Chinese market.

    Covering an area of 2,200 square meters, the pavilion displays brand-name products of 35 Spanish manufacturers including producers of red wine, agricultural produce and other food, daily necessities and garments, serving as a window for Chinese importers and consumers to learn about Spanish culture and products.

    “All of the products entering the Chinese market will be displayed at this pavilion, an import platform for trade between two countries,” Marcos Gomez Martinez, consul general of Spanish Consulate General in Guangzhou, said at the opening ceremony.

    “Spain is a European country with abundant port resources. The Pearl River Delta attracted 20 percent of Spanish trade and funds in China and around 30 percent of the Spanish products enter the Chinese market through Shenzhen,” said Martinez, adding that Spain has become the biggest olive oil supplier to China, taking up 75 percent of the Chinese market.

    Business between Yantian Port and Spain’s ports has been regular in recent years, with 15 container ships going between Shenzhen and Spain every week, according to statistics from Yantian Port Group.

    It is the result of one year of preparation by the Yantian District Government and Yantian Port Group, the largest single container port in the world whose throughput reached 11.7 million TUEs in 2016.

    It is the second national pavilion project operated by Yantian Port Group after the first one, Slovenia National Pavilion, was established in Futian Bonded Zone in 2015.

    The opening of the pavilion also marked a milestone between Yantian District and La Coruna since the two sides established their friendly-exchange relationship in April last year.

    To mark the anniversary and the friendship, Yantian District will renovate a small hill called Yandun Hill, overlooking Yantian Port at the mouth of Yantian River, into an international friendship park, where a half-size replica of the Tower of Hercules will be built. Xulio Ferreiro Baamonde, mayor of La Coruna and Du Ling, Party chief of Yantian, attended the foundation laying ceremony Friday.

    A popular science museum will also be built in the park. The 55-meter-tall lighthouse overlooking the North Atlantic coast of Spain is the oldest Roman lighthouse in use today and has been the National Monument of Spain since 2009.