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Nanning, April 28th, 2004 – Wednesday, Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, announces the grand opening of its first Supercenter in Nanning. Zhang Dongmei, Vice Mayor of Nanning City Government, Joe Hatfield, President & CEO of Wal-Mart Asia, and Cassian Cheung, President of Wal-Mart China attend the opening ceremony.

The city government gives a warm welcome to Wal-Mart and hopes that Wal-Mart will introduce its leading technology and advanced retailing knowledge to the local retail industry. Wal-Mart’s operation in Nanning will help to improve overall distribution and logistics sector on top of serving the customers and the community. Mr. Cassian Cheung, President of Wal-Mart China says, during the past eight years, Wal-Mart has opened 36 stores in 18 cities. It has gained popularity among local citizens with its Every Day Low Price and friendly customer service. Nanning is the capital city of Guangxi Province, which is a strategic hub connecting Southeast China, Guangdong Province, Hong Kong, Macau and even Southeast of Asia. As Wal-Mart first enters Nanning, the company hopes to promote Guangxi’s economic development and to gain popularity among Nanning citizens.

Wal-Mart Supercenter Nanning Chaoyang Store is located on the second and third floors of Wanda Shopping Plaza in Chaoyang Road, which is the prosperous shopping center with highly convenient transportation. The Supercenter has a business area of 19,000 square meters and provides over 18,000 kinds of merchandise. The second floor is equipped with cash registers and provides fresh food, while the third floor provides apparel, household electronic appliances and other household products.

Supercenter is Wal-Mart’s major business format in China and aims to provide customers with high quality at low price. The Wal-Mart associates are committed to providing warm and friendly service to customers and are committed to saving customer’s time and money by offering one-stop shopping experience. To appreciate the customers in Nanning, Wal-Mart offers price promotion for a series of products and various retailtainments during the grand opening.

As its long commitment in Good Works and to better serve the community, at the occasion of the new store opening, Wal-Mart launched a Smiley Angel Good Works Program with Smile Train, an international charity organization, and donated RMB 200,000 to 100 indigent harelipped children through Guangxi Charity Association. The program will help these indigent children to get recovery surgeries and bring them a brighter future.

Wal-Mart China opened its first Supercenter and Sam’s Club in August 1996 in Shenzhen. Since then, Wal-Mart China has opened 35 stores in 17 cities, including Shenzhen, Kunming, Fuzhou, Dalian, Xiamen, Shantou, Dongguan, Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Changsha, Beijing, Nanchang, Jinan and Qingdao. The Wal-Mart Nanning Supercenter is the 36th store in China.

Wal-Mart promotes the corporate culture of “ Respect for the Individual, Service to Our Customers and Strive for Excellence” and is committed to providing high quality low priced products and warm and friendly service to customers. Wal-Mart procures over USD15 billion of merchandise directly and indirectly in China in 2003, making positive contributions to China’s economic and foreign trade development. Wal-Mart also takes an active role in welfare causes. Since 1997, Wal-Mart China has donated over RMB9.2 million to social welfare agencies, education endeavor including Hope Project, and disaster relief.

Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer. In 2003 Wal-Mart achieved a global sales of USD 256.3 billion. It topped the Fortune Global 500 for three consecutive years and topped the “American’s Most Admired Companies” for two consecutive years. It was also named as one of the “Most Admired Companies” and the “Best Companies to Work for” in many countries. At present Wal-Mart has more than 1.5 million associates worldwide and operate over 5,000 stores in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, China, South Korea, Germany and UK.