On September 24, the 8 AWCCA General Assembly Meeting and the first AWCCA B2B Business Communication Meeting were successfully organized in Shanghai, China. Participants were AWCCA founder members from the Asian countries / regioins, which including the Electric Cable and Wire Branch of the China Electrical Equipment Industry Association (ECWB-CEEIA), Malaysia Cable Manufacturers Association (MCMA), Indonesian Cable Manufacturers’ Association (APKABEL), International Copper Association (ICA); the All-Russian Scientific Research and Development Cable Institute (JSC «VNIIKP»), and the Chinese, Japanese and Malaysian companies from cable materials, cable manufacturing and cable equipment sectors. This event was organized by Shanghai Electric Cable Research Institute (SECRI), which is the Chair and Secretariat of AWCCA.

As usual, the annual AWCCA General Assembly Meeting is organized by SECRI and other AWCCA founder members every other year. Whenever the “Wire China” exhibition  is hosted in Shanghai, the annual AWCCA General Assembly Meeting will be organized by SECRI in China. This year, it came on the occasion of the 9th Wire China  exhibition  is organized from 23rd to 26th in Shanghai. However, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign members could not make it to the meeting. Thanks to the thoughtful planning and preparation by the secretariat, SECRI set up a webcast at the exhibition site to provide an online communication platform for AWCCA members and other cable companies in Asia.

Ms. Li Zhuying, Secretary of the Party Committee and the Executive Director of SECRI delivered the opening speech. Mr. Zhou Chizhong, General Manager of SECRI, Chairman of ECWB-CEEIA, and Chairman of AWCCA attended the meeting. Ms. Li expressed sincere greetings to the participating members, business representatives and their families, followed by an introduction on the responsibility and benevolence of China’s wire and cable industry or companies in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of this year, and the update information about the successful opening of China’s 2020 Wire and Cable Industry Conference and the 9th Wire China  exhibition  by SECRI when China has successfully controlled the widespread of the pandemic. At the same time, under the severe global economic effects of COVID-19, Ms. Li suggested that all parties should implement the principles of AWCCA to serve all members with joint participation and collaboration, and play a positive role in maintaining the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain for all members.

During the information exchange sessions, all participating members held a comprehensive and in-depth discussion combining the industry dynamics, the impact of COVID-19 on the cable industry, the company’s own response measures, the measures taken by the local government, and the AWCCA follow-up work proposals. In the technical exchange session, VNIIKP shared its opinions on the technology, engineering applications and standardization of“Electric cables for ships and mobile and fixed offshore units” in Russia and CIS countries. Participants all hoped to receive a positive feedback on further discussions in this field and  participate in  the IEC activities   on international standardization   together.

In addition to the annual AWCCA General Assembly Meeting, AWCCA organized two on-line B2B business communication meetings for “Russian VNIIKP” and “Malaysian MCMA” for the first time. Exhibitors of the 9th Wire China exhibition were invited to the live stream chat room to have online negotiations with representatives of the two parties. These two on-line B2B business communication meetings were regarded as the first step in implementing the work proposed by the Chinese side in 2019 that “AWCCA creates a business negotiation platform for cable raw materials, equipment, and technical services for all members”.

It is reported that AWCCA will continue to carry out regional multilateral exchanges and cooperation around “Information, Trade, Technical Specification/Standard and Training”, and give full play to AWCCA’s role in wire   & cable  industry cohesion and regional influence in Asia.