The 2026 Mekong-Lancang Fruit, Coffee, Flower and Beer Carnival has opened at the Hello World Living Mall in Kunming, in China's Yunnan province. At the international festival, organised by the Yunnan provincial department of commerce, 94 stalls are showing fruit and farm produce from countries of the Mekong region. From the start, Bangladesh's stall has drawn strong interest from local visitors and traders.

Crowds of visitors came to see the fruit and farm produce on the Bangladesh stall. A Ministry of Commerce press release on Friday, 21 August, said the event was showcasing the diversity of Bangladesh's agricultural products to the international market and creating opportunities for new trade links with China.

According to the release, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Laos, Bangladesh and Thailand are taking part in the festival, held to strengthen regional cooperation in agriculture and trade. The participating countries are displaying and selling their fruit, farm produce and food products.

Speaking at the opening, Shahnaz Ranu, consul general at the Bangladesh Consulate General in Kunming, said trade in agricultural products and economic cooperation between Bangladesh and China had reached new heights, and cooperation between the two countries was playing an important role in expanding farm exports, investment and trade.

She said cooperation between Bangladesh and Yunnan under the "three frees and three facilitations" policy had grown stronger since last year's fruit festival, creating new opportunities for Bangladeshi firms to enter the Chinese market.

Shahnaz Ranu said the signing of a phytosanitary protocol for exporting jackfruit, Bangladesh's national fruit, to China during Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's visit to China was an important step. Bangladeshi mangoes have already entered the Chinese market, and there is potential to export guava and other tropical fruit in future, she said.

Describing Yunnan as an important market in China for Bangladesh's fresh farm produce, she said mutual cooperation would further expand agricultural trade between the two countries.

Representatives, diplomats and agriculture and trade officials from countries of the Mekong-Lancang region attended the opening, held under the slogan "Share the big market, export to China".

Other speakers included Liu Ji, deputy director of the Lancang-Mekong Sub-regional Economic and Trade Development Centre; Heng Pisal, Cambodia's consul general in Kunming; Chanwit Ruangchaithaweesuk, Thailand's commercial representative; Nghiem Viet Chung, Vietnam's consul general; and Ke Bin, chief agronomist of the Yunnan provincial department of agriculture and rural affairs.

After the opening, the guests toured the stalls. The organisers hope the festival will help expand markets for the participating countries' farm produce, strengthen trade relations and create new opportunities for agricultural cooperation.

The festival runs until 23 August. Visitors can see and buy fruit, farm produce, coffee, flowers and other goods from the various countries.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.