Nonglian Packaging: Empowering The Belt And Road Initiative With A Two-Way 'Going Global Plan' Leading China's Packaging Industry Into The World

Using ice and snow as a platform, collaborating to go global. On January 7, at the 2026 National Digital Packaging Industry Innovation and Development Conference, one of the main events of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Economy Expo, a 'strong alliance' between industry associations attracted widespread attention - the Harbin Agricultural Products Marketing Industry Association and the Heilongjiang Packaging Federation collaborated deeply to jointly launch the 'Going Global Plan.' Through a cooperation model that leverages complementary resources and combined strengths, they aim to create a 'fast track' for domestic packaging companies to connect with international markets. Vice President Fu Yuansen explained the plan's implementation path on site, while President Kou Rui provided an in-depth interpretation of the 'Belt and Road · Agricultural Chain Going Global Collaboration Plan.' The cross-industry collaboration between the two associations has become a model for how industry associations can empower industrial upgrading and serve regional economic development.

Seizing Opportunities Strategically: Two Major Associations Join Forces to Break the Dilemma of 'Going Solo' in Industrial Global Expansion

"Expanding the packaging industry internationally has never been a 'solo performance' in a single field; it is a 'concerto' involving agriculture and packaging, regional and national coordination." Fu Yuansen emphasized this core logic at the start of his keynote presentation. He pointed out that domestic packaging companies face three major pain points when going abroad: first, insufficient precise matching with the demand for agricultural product exports; second, a lack of integrated support from regional industrial resources; and third, fragmented connections to international market channels. The Harbin Agricultural Products Marketing Industry Association has long been dedicated to agricultural export trade services, with trade channels in 52 countries and a database of 1,260 export standards. Meanwhile, the 2026 National Digital Packaging Industry Innovation and Development Conference brings together hundreds of leading packaging companies from fourteen provinces, gaining insights into industry technological innovations and actual corporate needs.

"It is precisely this precise complementarity between the 'industrial export side' and the 'packaging supply side' that makes the cooperation between the two associations inevitable." Fu Yuansen revealed that the "Going Global Plan" released this time is essentially the result of integrating the resources of the two associations - the conference is responsible for selecting quality packaging companies, compiling industry pain points and technical demands, while the Harbin Agricultural Products Marketing Industry Association provides international market channels, export standards alignment, and cross-border service resources. Together, they build a full-chain service system covering 'corporate needs - resource matching - standard adaptation - channel implementation.' "Without the industry foundation provided by the associations, the plan would lack a practical industrial base; without our international expansion resources, the plan would have no 'bridge' to connect with the international market. This cooperation, where 1+1>2, is key to solving the dilemma of packaging companies 'going solo' abroad."

Notably, the Harbin Agricultural Products Marketing Industry Association has already listed "international expansion services" as a core focus for 2026. Its collaboration with the Heilongjiang Packaging Federation is the association's first benchmark project under its initiative to "launch special cooperation plans jointly with social organizations and industry associations." "We want to use this cooperation as a starting point to replicate the 'Industrial Association–Trade Association' collaborative model and enable more industry resources to work together," Fu Yuansen emphasized.

In-depth collaboration: agricultural chain packaging, cooperation draws a blueprint for going overseas "double circulation"

"If packaging is the 'first business card' for products to go overseas, then the cooperation between the two associations is to tailor an 'international pass' for this business card." When interpreting the "Belt and Road Agricultural Chain Overseas Collaborative Plan", Kou Rui focused on the core value of cooperation. He said that as one of the most developed regions in China's packaging industry, the packaging industry, as a supporting link of multiple industries, directly determines the international competitiveness of products.

Lu Xinxian, President of Heilongjiang Packaging Federation: We know best the demand for product packaging in the international market - such as European environmental protection material requirements, Southeast Asia's traceability system standards, and Middle East logistics adaptation specifications. The cooperation between the two sides is not limited to "demand docking", but also builds a long-term collaborative mechanism: first, the joint establishment of the "Packaging Overseas Standard Working Group", led by the federation to integrate industry technical resources, the association docks with international standards institutions, and jointly formulates the "Guidelines for Digital Adaptation of Export Packaging"; the second is to jointly build a "packaging enterprise overseas incubation base", the federation selects potential enterprises, and the association provides cross-border training and channel resources to help enterprises quickly open up the international market; The third is to share the "Belt and Road" trade data, the federation provides packaging industry dynamics, and the association outputs overseas market demand, providing support for the precise research and development and directional layout of enterprises.

The association is responsible: the linkage model has become a new benchmark for industrial services

In the context of the deep integration of digital economy and international trade, the cooperation between Harbin Agricultural Products Marketing Industry Association and Heilongjiang Packaging Federation provides a new paradigm for industry associations to serve social and economic development. Different from the traditional "single association service", this cooperation takes "industrial demand" as the core and realizes the precise docking of "trade resources" and "industrial resources", which not only solves the problem of "lack of channels and standards" for packaging enterprises to go overseas, but also provides "packaging empowerment" support for the industrial upgrading of the Belt and Road countries, and is more in line with the national "digital economy green food" two-wheel drive strategy and the "Belt and Road" initiative.

At the conference site, thanks to the resource docking of the two associations, 9 packaging enterprises from Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian and Hebei reached cooperation intentions with 3 green food export enterprises in Heilongjiang on the spot, involving digital traceability packaging, green environmental protection packaging and other fields. "Without the recommendation of the federation, it is difficult for us to quickly find the packaging technology that is suitable for the product; Without the channel endorsement of the marketing association, we would not dare to easily set foot in overseas markets. The person in charge of a Zhejiang packaging enterprise said frankly that the cooperation between the two associations has saved enterprises a lot of detours when going overseas.