Despite of obvious advantage in price and quality, made-in-China has to do due homework before doing business with the United Nations (UN), officials of Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Sunday.

They may begin with learning A B C, said Wei Jianguo, MOC's vice-minister said at the Sixth China International Machinery and Electronic Product Expo, which opened Friday in Wuhan, provincial capital of central China's Hubei Province.

A lack of mutual understanding between Chinese enterprises and the UN's procurement organizations has made China lose a huge overseas market and as for UN, a good business partner, said Wei.

The UN spent more than 6 billion US dollars for global procurement last year, while only around 30 million US dollars was spent in China and the suppliers were mainly from Beijing and coastal cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen, said Jan Mattsson.

The figure did not match the real strength of Chinese enterprises, said Wei, citing that China's export volume exceeded 500 billion US dollars and foreign direct investment actually used is more than 60 billion US dollars.

As matter of fact, as early as in 1992, to recommend domestic well-performed enterprises to the UN, Chinese government set up the UN Procurement and Service Promotion Division under the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges, which is led by the MOC. It has since served as the match-maker between the UN procurement department and Chinese enterprises.

By 2004, it has helped introduce equipment and technologies for nearly 800 social and economic projects and the annual procurement value amounted to 30 million US dollars, said Dong Hong, deputy director general of the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges.

Even though, many Chinese enterprises barely know that the UN is also a big market for them, let alone of the procedure to become a supplier for the global peace keeping organization.

Huang Junbian, 39, a businessman from eastern China's Zhejiang Province, has run a clothing wholesale business for nine years at the Hanzheng Street of Wuhan, a major small commodities market in China, where the UN opened its second procurement information center in the country on Friday.

"It was on Friday when the center opened that I first know the UN also does business besides peace-keeping around the world. It's amazing that I can also be a part of it, " said Huang.

There were neither discriminative rules nor trade barriers for Chinese companies to do business with the UN.

"The UN is not inaccessible, and the business opportunities are at hand for us so long as we are qualified, " said Dong Hong.

A largest-scale sourcing group from the UN began their journey of shopping Friday and the procurement departments of six UN organizations jointly held a special meeting at the expo to introduce their purchase plan in China on Saturday.

Besides, Jan Mattsson, director of management bureau under the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), who is also in charge of purchasing in the UN systems, gave a lecture on the requirements of becoming UN's supplier and the application procedure to more than 300 representatives of Chinese companies.

"Chinese companies should first overcome the language problem as few of us can speak Chinese and our website, where they can download application forms, is also in English," said Jan Mattsson, adding Chinese companies need more special talents on international trade and business. "What's more, once registered as a UN's supplier, we will expect your Yes-or-No feedback when we send you a purchase invitation," he said. "Last but not the least, our suppliers need persistence and patience because we are sourcing best products with best price, and this can never be done overnight," he said.

Currently, the items that the UN bought in China involve 18 categories from textile to machinery equipments, according to the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges.

"I have noticed that the UN have also begun to buy the high-tech products, such as motor vehicles, communication facilities and computer, in China now. But 10 years ago, only low-price commodities like shoes, coats and tents, were on their shopping list," said Dong Hong.

"Chinese enterprises have made notable achievement on technical renovation and management improvement through cooperation with foreign countries. Their products can meet the UN's demand not only in terms of price but also in quality," said Dong.

For example, the Inter-Agency Procurement Service Office under the UNDP, a major auto buyer in the UN, has showed great interest in China-made pickup truck, offroad vehicle and minibus. It has begun negotiation with Chinese automobile producers for future cooperation, said Dong. However, Chinese enterprises should also pay great attention to improving their after-sale service, especially for the high-tech products, said Francis Tse, team leader of the Communication and IT support Team under the United Nations Procurement Services (UNPS).

"When we choose our suppliers, we are expecting a long-term partnership but not a one-off business," said Mr. Tse.

To find more business partners in China, the UN planned to build two more procurement information centers in China, one in Beijing and the other in south China, said Jan Mattsson.

"What's more, we will consider establishing a Chinese website on UN procurement. After all, most population in the world speak Chinese,"he said. Encouraged by the central government's supportive policies, Chinese companies will play a more important role in trading with the UN, said Dong Hong.

For example, the Inter-Agency Procurement Service Office under the UNDP, a major auto buyer in the UN, has showed great interest in China-made pickup truck, offroad vehicle and minibus. It has begun negotiation with Chinese automobile producers for future cooperation, said Dong. However, Chinese enterprises should also pay great attention to improving their after-sale service, especially for the high-tech products, said Francis Tse, team leader of the Communication and IT support Team under the United Nations Procurement Services (UNPS).

"When we choose our suppliers, we are expecting a long-term partnership but not a one-off business," said Mr. Tse.

To find more business partners in China, the UN planned to build two more procurement information centers in China, one in Beijing and the other in south China, said Jan Mattsson.

"What's more, we will consider establishing a Chinese website on UN procurement. After all, most population in the world speak Chinese,” he said. Encouraged by the central government's supportive policies, Chinese companies will play a more important role in trading with the UN, said Dong Hong.