At the opening of the 39th International Advertising Association (IAA) World Congress in Beijing on Wednesday, State Administration for Industry and Commerce Minister Wang Zhongfu said that the development of the advertising sector is important to China and the government will support it.
The three-day biennial congress has brought together some 1,200 global advertising professionals to discuss various issues related to the international advertising industry.
Vice Premier Wu Yi sent a congratulatory letter to be read at the opening. She wrote that the progress of China, as the world's largest developing market, would both create new opportunities around the globe but also increase the nation's contribution to the international advertising industry. Wu noted that China's advertising industry has been developing rapidly in the past two decades.
With turnover topping 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion) last year, advertising is becoming an important sector for the national economy.
The congress can help to accelerate advances in China's advertising industry and enhance exchanges between the domestic advertising industry and those of other countries, Wu wrote.
IAA President Michael Lee said that the congress can benefit all participants' businesses.
Paul Springer, of Buckinghamshire Chilterns University, said that he hopes to gain a better understanding of China's advertising sector so that he can more conveniently exchange ideas with professionals in the field here.
Zhang Dexin, general manager of the Tianjin Tianye Advertisement Planning Co. Ltd., believes it is important for domestic companies to establish strong contacts with their overseas counterparts. "Once we get an idea of how they do business, we can be better prepared for future competition with them," Zhang said.
Under China's World Trade Organization commitments, its advertising market will open by the end of 2005.
The IAA was founded in 1938 and now has around 4,000 members in 80 countries. Its mission is to promote and facilitate excellence in global advertising.
(China Daily September 9, 2004)
