My CIIE Story • Great Opportunity: Expo changes my life

Editor's Note: The fifth China International Import Expo will open in less than 10 days. In October, several participants of the CIIE will tell their stories themed around "great opportunity" to showcase the positive changes the expo has made to the world and how it has helped build a community with a shared future for mankind over the past five years.

I was born in a merchant family in Kabul, Afghanistan 28 years ago. Afghan people know little about China although the two countries are neighbors. But in recent years, a great many goods that are made in China have been seen in Afghanistan so I thought I could find great development opportunities there.

In 2014, I came to Beijing to study and have been working in international trade since graduation. As I can speak fluent Mandarin and look like a Chinese, people always treat me like a fellow countryman.

My company mainly sells handmade woolen carpets. Compared to Persian and Arabic ones, Afghan carpets are less known but have the same quality. The bleak weather in Afghanistan's mountains makes the hairs of our lambs fine and soft. Premium carpets, made of wool from eight to 14-month-old lambs, are shiny and feel especially smooth. It often takes an artisan a few months to craft a carpet by hand, so our products are more artworks than commodities.

The CIIE is the perfect platform for Chinese consumers to learn more about Afghan goods. I have received orders for over 2,000 carpets through the expo and this brought a year of income to more than 2,000 Afghan families.

While visiting the CIIE, I found that the best Afghan products were not showcased by Afghan exhibitors. For example, a valuable emerald from Afghanistan was brought to the expo by a dealer from other countries. This revealed that Afghan companies still don't have enough distribution channels, and it would be a win-win situation if they could connect directly with the Chinese market.

I then realized that in addition to doing business, I can also facilitate the exchanges and mutual understanding between Chinese and Afghan people by attending the expo.

Due to the COVID-19 and domestic political unrest, many Afghan companies are on the verge of bankruptcy, and this could result in the loss of traditional craftsmanship. Afghanistan used to have three manufacturers of a kind of gemstone plate but there is only one left after the pandemic. The number of employees at the factory has also dropped from 200 to two. I bought all gemstone plates in the company's stock and will display them at the fifth CIIE. The inheritance of the craft depends on the expo.

I will set up two booths this year to present more Afghan products, including saffron, pomegranates, wooden and leather products, as well as lazurite. I named my brand Biraro, which means brother in Afghan, hoping that Chinese and Afghan people can establish a brotherly friendship.

I am now the owner of a shop selling imported products from Afghanistan on the second floor of the Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub in Shanghai. This shop is the only one of its kind in China. To take care of the business and make it more convenient to attend the CIIE, I have moved from Beijing to Shanghai. The expo has changed my life.