Press Conference of World Winter Sports (Beijing) Expo 2019 Held in Beijing

BEIJING, June 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On the morning of June 12, the press conference of the World Winter Sports (Beijing) Expo 2019 (hereinafter referred to as "WWSE"), which will be co-hosted by BODA and IDG, was held in Beijing. The conference was attended by Liu Jingmin, executive vice chairman of Beijing Olympic City Development Association (BODA); Chang Yu, director of the Media and Communications Department of Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games; Fu Xiaohui, secretary-general of BODA and director of Beijing Olympic City Development Center (BODC, Secretariat of BODA); Gao Yunchao, deputy secretary-general of BODA and deputy director of BODC; Zhao Yinggang, deputy director of the Council for Sustainable Development of Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and president of the China Sled Association; Jarno Syrjälä, Ambassador of Finland to the People's Republic of China; Dr. Martin Glatz, commercial counsellor at Austrian Embassy in China; representatives of other embassies and tourist offices in China; Xu Zhou, president of International Data Group Asia; Zhu Dongfang, vice president of IDG Asia; Zhang Li, vice president of IDG China; representatives of well-known ice and snow enterprises; and more than 100 news media reporters.

Comprehensive preparations for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games have been initiated, and the WWSE contributes to China's ice and snow sports

There are only two years left before the opening of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. The preparations for the grand event have entered an unprecedented high-speed period. China's ice and snow industry has also flourished under the opportunity of the Olympic Winter Games. Recently, the "Opinions on Vigorously Developing Ice and Snow Sports with the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games as an Opportunity" issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council mentioned that it is necessary to "popularize the ice and snow sports, develop the ice and snow industry, establish and improve related infrastructure, and strive to make China's ice and snow sports achieve leapfrog development". As a professional platform for the development and exchanges of China's ice and snow industry, the WWSE has integrated multi-party resources to contribute to the preparations for the Olympic Winter Games.

The WWSE aims to promote the development of China's ice and snow industry, "drive 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports" and popularize winter sports knowledge in China. Held annually in Beijing, China from 2016, the WWSE has been supported and participated by the International Olympic Committee and seven international winter sports federations. Due to its connection with the international ice and snow industry, it has promoted the development of ice and snow industry in China and the world at large, and become one of the largest and most authoritative ice and snow sports expos in the world.

Liu Jingmin, executive vice president of BODA, said in his speech that holding the WWSE not only fulfills the promise of the bid for the Olympic Winter Games, but also acts an important measure to promote the Olympic spirit and contribute to the Beijing Olympic Winter Games. As an important task to help the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the WWSE, with increasingly larger scale and higher quality since 2016, has successfully built a platform to promote the development of ice and snow industry and the popularization of ice and snow sports. Furthermore, an increasingly strong winter Olympic atmosphere has been created, evidenced by the raised public's awareness of and attention to winter sports by attracting the public to experience the sports.

Four sectors highlight the "Ice and Snow Power", and the international platform promotes the development of the ice and snow industry

Zhang Li, vice president of IDG China, shared the results of the past three expos at the press conference. According to her, the WWSE 2019 will be held in Beijing on October 17-20, continuing the theme of "Ice and Snow Power". The ice and snow industry chain is covered by four sectors, that is, exhibitions, theme forums, industry exchanges and supporting activities. The WWSE 2019 will set up an exhibition area of more than 30,000 square meters and hold more than 20 parallel forums and supporting activities. It is expected that it will involve over 240 domestic and foreign speakers, more than 600 brands from China and beyond and over 600 media. The number of visitors will reach 160,000, including 24,000 professional ones.

Zhang Li said that highlights of this expo emerge one after another. The first is to deepen international exchanges and cooperation. The WWSE 2019 will invite important guests from the International Olympic Committee, international winter sports federations and the world ice and snow powers. A national exhibition area is specially set up to invite the ice and snow powers to be the guests of honor of the WWSE. In response to the call of China to promote the construction of the "Belt and Road" Initiative, invitations have been sent to France, Italy, Russia, New Zealand and other related countries. Overseas promotions and project docking activities have been carried out throughout the year in various forms for global governments, associations, chambers of commerce and ice and snow companies.

The second is to contribute to the innovation of the ice and snow industry. An ice and snow incubation zone will be set up to strengthen the display of ice and snow start-ups at home and abroad, hold ice and snow entrepreneurship competitions, help the high-quality ice and snow projects to land, and promote the integration of sports and technology as well as industry innovation.

The third is to enrich the public ice and snow activities. The Public Ice and Snow Carnival will be launched to provide audiences with such experiences as real ice show, snow slope, curling, mobile polar ice and snow, miniature ice and snow world and virtual video to create a late summer ice and snow event so as to promote the popularization of the knowledge of the Olympic Winter Games, strengthen the public experience of ice and snow sports, and help achieve the goal of "driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports".

Finland becomes the guest of honor to help the "Sino-Finnish Winter Sports Year"

At the press conference, Fu Xiaohui, secretary-general of BODA and director of BODC announced that Finland is the guest of honor of the WWSE 2019, and then witnessed the signing ceremony of the guest of honor with Liu Jingmin, Chang Yu and Jarno Syrjälä. Boasting a long history in the winter sports industry, Finland has long dominated skiing and other projects, thanks to its rich ice and snow resources, providing unique conditions for the development of such sports and the cultivation of ice and snow culture.

2019 is the "Sino-Finnish Winter Sports Year", embodying that China and Finland have comprehensive cooperation in winter sports and the preparations for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Meanwhile, the WWSE 2019 will see the theme activity of "Finland Day" for the guest of honor, as a platform for signing contracts for high-quality enterprises and key projects, to promote the cooperation and promotion of ice and snow resources and competitive winter tourism projects, embracing new opportunities in ice and snow sports exchanges between the two countries.

Jarno Syrjälä, Ambassador of Finland to the People's Republic of China, spoke highly of the WWSE. He also hoped that more people would understand the winter sports and feel their charm through the "Sino-Finnish Winter Sports Year".

Ice and snow experts gathered to focus on "Take the Call of the Winter Olympics, Feel the Power of the Ice and Snow"

With the theme of "Take the Call of the Winter Olympics, Feel the Power of the Ice and Snow", a dialogue involved Zhao Yinggang, deputy director of the Council for Sustainable Development of Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and president of the China Sled Association; Dr. Martin Glatz, commercial counsellor at Austrian Embassy in China; Mikko Saarinen, senior partner of Business Finland Oy; Simone Pompilio, general manager of Greater China at Rossignol Group; Tong Jian, chief coach of Pang Qing and Tong Jian National Training Team, deputy director of the Figure Skating Program of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and CEO of Yixiang; and Liang Liping, chairman of Beijing SnowElan Sport Development Co., Ltd., and was presided over by Zhang Li, vice president of IDG China.

After three years of accumulation and development, the WWSE, by integrating resources, has delved into the ice and snow market in China, introduced the world's front-end products and service chain, continuously deepened international exchanges and cooperation, promoted the overall progress of the industry, and drove the public to actively participate in winter sports. The WWSE 2019 will continue to contribute to the preparations for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and promote the all-round development of China's winter sports.

For more information on the World Winter Sports (Beijing) Expo, please visit http://www.wwse2022.com/ or follow the public account of the WWSE on WeChat.

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