Feature: Chinese Liquor brand Wuliangye celebrates Milan Expo success

Chinese liquor brand Wuliangye Yibin Co., Ltd. and China Corporate United Pavilion (CCUP) have signed an agreement for further cooperation after the success of their strategic partnership at the world exposition that ended here in Milan last month.

The partnership was signed during an awarding ceremony held in a prestigious mansion of the Italian business capital on Friday night. The CCUP representatives highlighted the important role of iconic Chinese brands such as Wuliangye in spreading the Chinese traditional and modern culture in the world.

Wuliangye is fermented with ancient underground cellars with a history of over 600 years. The raw materials of Wuliangye is the five grains of sorghum, rice, sticky rice, wheat and corn. There are various microorganisms in the cellar mud which enrich the liquor with various flavors.

"Some 100 years ago we used to be a small company almost unknown to the world," said Liu Zhongguo, Chairman of the Board of Wuliangye, in his address to distinguished guests at the ceremony. Today, he highlighted, Wuliangye has been evaluated as one of the top brands in China.

This was possible, Liu went on saying, thanks to a strategic promotion of the brand based on sustainability -- which was also one of the leading issues of the nutrition-themed Milan Expo -- and win-win cooperation.

Liu said Wuliangye can be considered as a "vehicle" for the "Belt and Road", an initiative proposed by China in 2013, which refers to the New Silk Road Economic Belt, linking China with Europe through Central and Western Asia, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, connecting China with Southeast Asian countries, Africa and Europe.

Under the initiative, highways, railways and air routes will be established, and Chinese regions will further integrate resources, policies and markets to connect with the outside world.

"Wuliangye is distributed in the markets of 65 countries and regions... and the brand is performing very successfully in the overseas markets of chinese liquor," Liu said in an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the event.

Of course, he told Xinhua, there is much more to do for Wuliangye in the world's highly competitive liquor market, but he was confident that also thanks to the cooperation with other Chinese companies the brand will further establish itself at the international level.

"Today we signed an agreement to keep CCUP after the end of the expo," said Alessandro Rosso, President of Alessandro Rosso Group, speaking at the awarding ceremony. The group had a contract with Expo Milano 2015 as authorized reseller of accommodation packages, tours and events including entrance ticket to the site.

"I have a wonderful memory of the biggest Expo in the world, the Expo Shanghai 2015. We were warmly welcomed by our Chinese friends, who decided in the end not to dismantle the Italian pavilion but keep it as a symbol of Italy," Rosso said.

At the same way, he wished that CCUP will become a meeting point for cross-cultural exchanges between China and Italy.

According to the CCUP's figures disclosed at the end of the Expo Milano 2015, the corporate pavilion organized more than 200 economic, commercial and cultural events during the six-month world exposition.

Over 2,000 Chinese and Italian entrepreneurs took part in the CCUP events, which led to signing of 200 cooperation agreements involving major regions and cities of Italy. Enditem