The commission is brokering a match between more than 1,000 "best-of-breed" Chinese businesses and the world's top retailers to help them clinch "win-win" deals, said Cao.

Since China joined the World Trade Organization last December, multinational retailers have shown greater interests in goods made in China.

Foreign retail groups last year purchased commodities valued at US$30 billion from the Chinese mainland. This represented 12 per cent of the mainland total commodity exports for the year, according to the latest statistics of Cao's commission.

However, many giant foreign retailers are still not familiar with Chinese products, Cao said. They have yet to tap the tremendous procurement potential in China.

On the other hand, Chinese enterprises lack the channels to pool their products to sell to foreign retail chain stores. Usually the intermediary traders make transactions more costly and less efficient, according to some experts.

Cao said: "In light of this situation, the SETC will bring more than 20 retailing giants -- such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Metro - to meet face-to-face with Chinese commodity suppliers, so that they may forge direct trade partnerships."

An international procurement fair for multinational retailers is due to be held in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, in late April. It forms part of the commission's efforts to help foreign retailers expand their presence in China, Cao said.

The commission hopes that, by sponsoring such a fair and similar ones to follow in the years ahead, it will help foreign retailers locate ideal products and establish long-standing trade relations with qualified Chinese firms, while offering them a chance to publicize their brands in China.

Analysts said that the commission's April fair is being arranged to help increase the export of Chinese goods, as the country's foreign trade has also been hit by the world economic downturn.

"The government will encourage foreign commercial enterprises to set up procurement centers in China by ironing out their problems in going through customs formalities, taxation and foreign-currency exchange," Cao said, without elaborating.

Due to its competitive prices and product quality, China has already become the largest source of goods in Asia for the France-based supermarket firm Carrefour. And the United States firm Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, moved its purchasing headquarters from Hong Kong to Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province last year, according to earlier Chinese newspaper reports.

(China Daily March 22, 2002)