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Zhejiang Trade Fair Opens in Bangkok for Fourth Straight Year, Deepening China-Thailand Commerce Ties
Reporter 欧亚时报编辑部
The "2026 Zhejiang International Trade Exhibition (Thailand)," organized by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce, officially opened at the IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Center in Bangkok on September 16, and will run for three days through September 18. This marks the fourth consecutive year Zhejiang province has held this comprehensive trade exhibition in Thailand, and it stands as one of the important annual platforms for Zhejiang enterprises seeking to expand into the ASEAN market and deepen economic and trade ties with Thailand, with the exhibition and its supporting activities all coordinated by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce.
At the opening ceremony, representatives from several parties were invited to attend, including Thailand's Ministry of Industry, the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa), the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Thailand, and the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), who jointly officiated the ribbon-cutting. According to organizers, at previous years' opening ceremonies, representatives from Thailand's Electrical and Electronics Industry Club, the Federation of Thai Industries, and the Ministry of Energy also attended and spoke positively of Zhejiang exhibitors' products and brand image, reflecting sustained interest and support for the exhibition from various sectors in Thailand.
According to publicly available information, the "Zhejiang International Trade Exhibition (Thailand)" was first held at the IMPACT Exhibition Center in Bangkok in September 2023, under the theme "Quality Zhejiang Goods, Marketed to the World," with Zhejiang-brand smart manufacturing companies such as Hikvision, Dahua, Yuzhong Gaohong and Tianyue Lighting exhibiting products focused on smart cities and smart homes. The exhibition was subsequently held again at the same venue in 2024 and 2025, making 2026 its fourth year, with the scale of the fair and the number of participating brands growing each year, gradually making it one of Zhejiang's better-known annual economic and trade events in Thailand and the ASEAN region.
The IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Center in Bangkok is one of the largest exhibition venues in Southeast Asia, located in the Muang Thong Thani area of Pak Kret district, Nonthaburi province, just north of Bangkok, and has long hosted large-scale international trade fairs. It provided ample exhibition space and supporting facilities for this year's Zhejiang trade fair, and has also been the fixed venue chosen for the Zhejiang exhibition for four consecutive years running, making it convenient for exhibitors and buyers to connect.
This year's exhibition continued the same market positioning as previous editions, focusing on industries where Zhejiang has strong export competitiveness, such as smart living products, building materials, and lighting and electrical goods, with well-known Zhejiang brands including Hikvision and Tuya among the exhibitors. However, the specific composition of exhibitors and products is not the focus of this report, as those details are covered separately in a dedicated report that readers may consult for more on the products and industries involved.
As an important component of Zhejiang province's strategy of opening up and "going global," the exhibition has in recent years become a regular window through which Zhejiang enterprises showcase their products and brand image while connecting with demand in the ASEAN market. The Zhejiang Council for the Promotion of International Trade and other bodies have continued in recent years to organize provincial enterprises to travel to Thailand for various exhibitions, and this fair is one of the larger events in that ongoing series of overseas exhibitions.
Viewed against the broader backdrop of bilateral economic and trade relations, China has held the position of Thailand's largest trading partner for years running, while Thailand is an important partner for China within ASEAN. Analysts note that fairs like the Zhejiang trade exhibition — organized by a provincial-level Chinese commerce authority and held regularly in Thailand over the years — provide small and medium-sized enterprises from both countries with a stable, predictable channel for connecting, helping to lower the information and trust costs of entering overseas markets, and represent one concrete manifestation of the continuing deepening of bilateral economic and trade ties, as well as a microcosm of increasingly active local-level economic and trade cooperation.
Zhejiang is one of China's most economically dynamic provinces for private enterprise and one of its largest in foreign trade, with total import-export value ranking among the country's highest for years running; its textile and garment, hardware and electromechanical, consumer goods, and smart home industries are highly competitive in global markets, while specialized markets such as the Yiwu International Trade City give the province an important place in global small-commodity trade networks. In recent years, Zhejiang has continued to push local enterprises to "go global," helping small and medium-sized enterprises connect with international markets by holding overseas exhibitions and establishing trade promotion bodies, and this Bangkok trade fair is one concrete manifestation of that strategy in the Thai and ASEAN markets.
Viewed against this broader policy backdrop, Zhejiang's economy has for years ranked fourth among mainland Chinese provinces by size, and since 2021 the central government has designated it a pilot province for building a "common prosperity demonstration zone," giving it certain policy latitude to push the transformation and upgrading of its private economy and to expand high-level opening to the outside world. Some analysts view this trip to hold an exhibition in Thailand as one concrete move by Zhejiang, under its "common prosperity" strategic framework, to push local small and medium-sized private enterprises into deeper participation in international market competition. On the logistics front, the China-Laos Railway, completed and put into operation in recent years, has provided a new option for shipping goods overland from inland Chinese provinces such as Zhejiang to Thailand, complementing traditional sea freight routes and adding logistical convenience for Zhejiang enterprises attending exhibitions and expanding into the ASEAN market.
Notably, Zhejiang enterprises' push into the Thai market this year has not been limited to this trade exhibition alone. On July 1, the "2026 Zhejiang (Thailand) International Engineering Exhibition" was held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) in Bangkok, drawing ten key Zhejiang enterprises focused on expanding into the ASEAN market in fields such as new energy. Analysts say that Zhejiang enterprises stepping up their push into the Thai and ASEAN markets through multiple exhibition channels this year reflects a continuing trend of Zhejiang's foreign economic and trade layout tilting toward Southeast Asia.
Having now been held in Thailand for four consecutive years, the Zhejiang International Trade Exhibition has gradually developed into a relatively fixed annual mechanism for Zhejiang's economic and trade cooperation with Thailand. Compared with one-off, ad hoc trade delegation visits, such a long-running, regularized exhibition platform is more conducive to building stable connections between Zhejiang enterprises and the Thai market, and provides a sustainable vehicle for local-level economic and trade cooperation between China and Thailand.
On Thailand's side, the country has in recent years pushed ahead with its Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) strategy, focused on attracting foreign investment in electronics, the digital economy and smart manufacturing. Zhejiang enterprises with export strengths in smart living products, building materials, and lighting and electrical goods are seen as among the potential partners Thailand hopes to further attract through this exhibition platform. Analysts note that the attendance of representatives from Thailand's Ministry of Industry and Digital Economy Promotion Agency at the opening ceremony also reflects the importance Thai authorities place on attracting investment from Zhejiang and China and on deepening supply-chain cooperation in related industries.
Organizers said that supporting activities such as business matchmaking meetings and industry exchanges will also be arranged during the exhibition, creating direct communication channels between exhibiting enterprises and local Thai buyers and distributors. The exhibition will run through its closing on September 18, and organizers expect to summarize and release further details on concrete results and any resulting cooperation agreements after the fair concludes. Following past practice, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce and related agencies are expected to issue a summary press release after the fair ends, reporting on the deal value and matchmaking outcomes of this edition, which would provide a reference for deciding whether to continue the fair next year and how to further expand its scale.
