He welcomed the arrival of Chinese businessmen in the province, especially their first visit after the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have facilitated local MSMEs to meet these Chinese entrepreneurs," he noted in Mataram on Wednesday.
Malady is optimistic that several products from NTB would be marketed to foreign countries through the Chinese entrepreneurs.
In fact, the presence of tourists, who are also entrepreneurs, is expected to be a potential reason for opening flights between China and Lombok.
"This can be realized if the interaction between China and Lombok is also increased, so that there will be the opening of direct flights later," he remarked.
It is known that the 50 entrepreneurs engaged in e-commerce are members of an association of resellers from China.
They visited NTB on June 26-28, 2023, with the goal of exploring local products that would be marketed overseas.
Peter Lee, CEO of the Indewow Investment Group who brought the Chinese entrepreneurs, noted that there were several reasons behind his targeting of NTB as an area where its products would be marketed abroad.
The existence of several international events, such as the Mandalika MotoGP, is one of the reasons that has made NTB known to foreign countries.
Lee said these entrepreneurs would market products from NTB through two social media platforms -- TikTok and WeChat -- as these two are the most widely used in China.
"They are big resellers. In one minute, the turnover of money from sales can be billions," he stated.
Lee explained that currently, only three NTB products -- pearls, swallow's nest, and coffee -- are considered specific and unique.
"NTB has extraordinary economic and tourism prospects. This must be explored," he remarked.
He stated that Manado was one of the areas that had also been promoted by businessmen from China. At that time, they roped in one of the major TV stations from China, Guangdong TV.
They worked together to make a film about Manado. Lee said that the film went viral in China. Thereafter, visits by Chinese tourists and businessmen to Manado increased significantly.
"Because of the film, the China-Manado direct flight finally opened before finally being closed again due to COVID-19. We will do the same thing in NTB. We will make a film in collaboration with TV stations at the end of July," he stated.
"Hopefully, later, when there are already many partnerships and activities in NTB, direct China-Lombok flights can be opened," he remarked.
In line with Lee's remarks, Hendro Wibowo, the CEO of Indewow, stated that visits by Chinese businessmen to NTB would be routine to further gain insights into NTB's unique products to market.
"The plan is to come here every month. Later, as time goes by, hopefully, it can be once every two months," he remarked.
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Translator: Nur Imansyah, Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: Anton Santoso
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
