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(June 30, 2005, Chongqing) Today, the world largest retailer Wal-Mart celebrated the grand opening of its first Chongqing store, Wal-Mart Supercenter Chongqing Jiulong Square Branch. Leaders from Chongqing Municipal Government and Jiulong District Government and other government officials attended the ceremony. In addition, attendees from Wal-Mart include Mr. Joe Hatfield, Senior Vice President of Wal-Mart Stores Co. Ltd. and President & CEO of Wal-Mart Asia, and Mr. Rene Mang, Vice President and CAO of Wal-Mart (China) Investment Co., Ltd. .

At the ceremony, the local government officials extended their welcome and appreciation to Wal-Mart for its first store in Chongqing and expected Wal-Mart to introduce advanced retail technology and philosophy and boost the development of commodity circulation and manufacture in Chongqing. Rene Mang, Vice President & CAO of Wal-Mart (China) Investment Co., Ltd. denoted that Wal-Mart had operated 46 outlets in 21 cities since it entered China nine years ago. With its “Every Day Low Prices” operation philosophy and superior customer service, Wal-Mart has obtained the acknowledgement from Chinese customers. Wal-Mart Supercenter Jiulong Square Branch is the 47th unit opened in China the first one in Chongqing. The new store’s appearance in Chongqing is anticipated to win popularity among local consumers and expected to promote local economy as well.

Located at Jiulong Square of Yangjiaping and in the neighborhood of Chongqing Zoo and train track, the new store occupies the 2nd and 3rd floors of Jiulong Shopping Mall. With a business area of over 19,000 square meters, the store sells about 18,000 items, including fresh food, apparels, home appliances, cosmetics, etc. Wal-Mart Supercenter Jiulong Square Branch has three self-support services featuring optical service, jewelry and one-hour photo service. For instance, the newly introduced self-service digital photo developing machine can develop photos from mobile phones and digital cameras within 11 seconds. Besides, it offers old photo face-lifting service.

Supercenter is a major business format of Wal-Mart in China, which is aimed to provide customers high quality merchandise at low prices by the “Every Day Low Price” principle, excellent shopping experience through Wal-Mart associates’ commitments in aggressive customer service and save them money and time by providing One Stop Shopping experience through almost 20,000 kinds of commodities. As a return to customers’ support, Wal-Mart offered great promotional valued merchandise and provided a series of retailtainment events during the grand opening.

Following Wal-Mart tradition in community involvement, the store donated RMB 200,000 to Chongqing Wildlife Association to support the reproduction, adoption and rescue of Huanan Tigers (China Tigers) prior to the grand opening. In cooperation with the Association, Wal-Mart will develop some educational events to call for public awareness of wildlife preservation.

Wal-Mart China opened its first Supercenter and SAM’S CLUB in August 1996 in Shenzhen. Till now, Wal-Mart China has opened 47 stores in 22 cities, including Shenzhen, Kunming, Fuzhou, Dalian, Xiamen, Shantou, Dongguan, Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Changsha, Beijing, Nanchang, Jinan, Qingdao, Tianjin, Nanjing, Nanning, Wuhan, Guiyang, Taiyuan and Chongqing.

Wal-Mart adheres to the corporate culture of “Respect for the Individual, Service to Our Customers and Strive for Excellence”. Wal-Mart’s direct and indirect procurement from China exceeded USD 18 billion in 2004, which made tremendous contribution to China’s economy and foreign trade development. Wal-Mart also actively contributes to various charitable programs. Since 1997, Wal-Mart’s donations to various charitable organizations have reached over RMB 19.74 million.

Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer. In 2004, Wal-Mart achieved global sales of USD 285.2 billion. It topped the Fortune Global 500 for four consecutive years and the “American’s Most Admired Companies” for two years in a row. It was also named as one of the “Most Admired Companies” and the “Best Companies to Work for” in many countries. Wal-Mart employed 1.6 million associates worldwide and operated over 5,000 stores in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, China, South Korea, Germany and UK.