A bird's-eye view of Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo provided to ehangzhou.gov.cn]

As a stronghold of the private economy, Hangzhou has seen the emergence of a large number of high-quality foreign trade enterprises and entrepreneurs. They have rooted themselves in Hangzhou while extending their reach outward to leverage external resources and markets for greater development.

Recently, the Canton Fair, hailed as the "largest fair in history," came to a close. Hangzhou GreatStar Industrial Co, a leading foreign trade company, expanded its booth size five-fold compared to previous years and showcased thousands of new products, a record amount for the city.

After a gap of three years, Li Feng, senior vice-president of the company, met his old friend Guido from South America at the fair. Guido, the head of procurement for the largest supermarket group in South America's China region, has known Li for eight years, but they were not able to meet in person for the past three years. This year, not only did Guido come, but he also brought the president and chairman of the group, Francisco, who is responsible for making purchasing decisions at the headquarters.

During the two-hour meeting, both sides expressed excitement. The group bought many new products, and Francisco showed great interest in one of GreatStar's flagship products, the 216P ratchet wrench, launched during the pandemic. After testing it on site, he placed an order for tens of thousands of them and expressed his intention to continue buying more in the future.

As a globally-leading tool company, GreatStar has primarily focused on the European and American markets since its inception. Through mergers and acquisitions, it has quickly gained market share, optimized global promotion of its brand, and improved its products' rapid response capabilities in the market.

"Internationalization has always been the focus of our company. However, our M&As are not just about buying, but rather integrating and upgrading the industrial chain, accelerating the synergistic development of various sectors within the group," said Qiu Jianping, chairman of GreatStar.