Wang Yuanyuan

SHENZHEN International Cultural Industry Fair Co. Ltd. will promote Chinese cultural products and services by setting up its first exhibition and sales center in New York City this year.

The center, located in Flushing in the borough of Queens, will display Chinese cultural products and popularize the fair in the United State, Li Jingyun, vice general manager of the company, said yesterday.

The company, organizer of the annual China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industry Fair (ICIF), will cooperate with F&T Group, a real estate developer in the United States, to establish the center in New York.

F&T is the official agent of the ICIF in the United States, commissioned to organize exhibitions. The ICIF company will send products according to orders from the group. The first sample products will be sent to New York after the fair concludes May 19.

The center will be located on the fourth floor of Queens Crossing, a landmark building in Flushing, and cover a total area of 800 square meters.

“This location is in a Chinese-gathering area. We hope that we can gradually open the mainstream market in the United States through overseas Chinese as they know much better about our culture,” Li said.

The two sides signed a letter of intent last week, and will sign a contract at the closing ceremony of the fourth ICIF which will be held from May 16 to 19 at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center.

The organizers also said yesterday they would invite Harald Wolf, mayor of Berlin, Gary Locke, former governor of the State of Washington in the United States, and Peter Zec, chairman of International Design Alliance, to give keynote speeches at a summit focusing on the opportunities and challenges of Chinese cultural industries, at this year’s fair.