Shandong hosted a news conference to promote the province's quality consumer products and influential brands at the first China International Consumer Products Expo in Haikou, capital of South China's Hainan province, on May 7.

About 150 people, including buyers, attended the event.

China's per capita GDP has exceeded $10,000, and the country has entered an important stage of consumption upgrading, said Shandong officials, adding that as a province with a large economy and population, local residents' demands for high-quality, well-known, and unique products keeps increasing.

"Shandong has a huge market with huge potential,” said an official from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, "Hong Kong and Shandong have always enjoyed a solid foundation for cooperation in trade, and Hong Kong is an important platform for promoting the export of Shandong products."

He said that Hong Kong is a shopping paradise and an important link between the domestic and international markets and more efforts will be made to share resource channels with Shandong and provide quality services for global goods entering the domestic market.

In the eyes of Gao Xujiang, deputy general manager of China Duty Free Group, Shandong has unique geographical advantages and broad space for development.

"CDF Group has cooperated with Shandong Airport Group to conduct business in Jinan, Qingdao, Yantai, and other cities, producing fruitful results. I hope to take this expo as a chance to expand ties with Shandong enterprises," said Gao.

"We hope that the expo will promote high-quality Shandong products internationally and promote high-quality foreign products in Shandong, meet the personalized and diversified consumer needs of Shandong residents, and let the world share in the development opportunities in Shandong," said an official from the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce.