By Gene Roman
The China-based International Cultural Industry Fair has chosen a Flushing-based company to promote its products in New York.
F&T Development, a development and real estate services company, announced the partnership Friday during a news conference at its Queens Crossing headquarters at 39th Avenue and Main Street.
F&T will establish a USA Exhibition Center in the Queens Crossing shopping center to showcase Chinese cultural products in New York.
“Today is a special day because we are one step closer to Mr. Michael Lee's dream,” said Michael Meyer, president of TDC Development, a subsidiary real estate services company of F&T. “Mr. Lee was one of the first to establish an office in China to promote Chinese-American business exchanges in 1997.”
Lee, 58, president of F&T Development, said his company plans to rent a 1,000-square-foot show booth during the fourth annual International Cultural Industry Fair to be held in Shenzhen, China, from May 16 to May 19.
“We want more Chinese enterprises to become members of the USA Exhibition Center here in Queens,” said Lee in the presence of representatives from the Chinese Culture and Commerce ministries and the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government.
The International Cultural Industries Fair is the only one of its kind with “exhibition and exchange” as its core values, said Cocoa Wang, F&T marketing coordinator.
“ICIF makes an effort to establish an exchange platform for Chinese cultural products, promote the development of Chinese cultural industries and spread Chinese cultural products throughout the world,” she said.
F&T group plans to allocate 18,000 square feet of space in its Queens Crossing building to display Chinese cultural products. An additional 16,000 square feet will be set aside for a business trade center, according to Wang.
Grace Meng, 32, an attorney and president of the Queens Chinese Women's Association, expressed pride in the project.
“As a child born and raised in the United States of Chinese parents, it is great to see my two worlds come together like this,” she said during the news conference. “Culture is one of the reasons that Flushing has flourished. We want people to come here for business, education and good food,” she added.
