H.E. Tarik Bukvic (middle), ambassador of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina to China, attends a live stream. [Photo/cnnb.com.cn] 

Ten diplomats from Central and Eastern European Countries, or CEEC, made their debut on a live streaming platform operated by Pinduoduo, an e-commerce platform with roughly 585 million registered users, to promote special products from their countries from June 8 to 9.

As of the afternoon of June 9, the diplomats-turned-live streamers from countries such as Serbia, Latvia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, and Bulgaria had garnered more than two million total viewers.

The live broadcasts are an integral part of the ongoing 2020 CEEC Products Online Fair in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province, which serves as a replacement for the Second China-CEEC Expo & International Consumer Goods Fair, which was expected to be held in Ningbo in June but had to be postponed until next year due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

"The total population of Bosnia and Herzegovina is only 3.5 million, and the number of people that watched our live stream was equal to one-seventh of the population of our country," H.E. Tarik Bukvic, ambassador of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina to China, exclaimed.

"These are some of our finest wines made from the best grapes at the best time. They are valuable collector's items," said H.E.Darko Pajovic, Montenegrin ambassador to China while promoting wine during the live stream.

In addition to the live streams, a digital store selling CEEC products has also been set up on Pinduoduo, through which domestic consumers can purchase more than 200 CEEC goods, ranging from Serbian wine and Bulgarian rose essential oil to Latvian mineral paint and Polish beer.

"We hope that the online exhibition will help open up the domestic market to high-quality overseas goods amid the epidemic, especially products involved with the CEEC," said Mao Bei, a staff member at Pinduoduo. 

Ningbo reached a strategic agreement with Pinduoduo on March 25.