10 SPECIAL Wednesday, November 23, 2016 CHINA DAILY USA

Sino-German cooperation strengthened by tech deals

By ZHUAN TI

Major progress was made in the cooperation between The 16th Western China International Fair in Chengdu enables visitors to see and experience the latest technologies. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Chengdu and Germany dur- ing the 16th Western China International Fair held in the city earlier this month. A Sino-German innovative industrial cooperation zone, covering a total area of 22 Fair boosts city’s opening-up process square kilometers, was inau- gurated in Chengdu Science City, a hub of new technology, industry and business in the Delegates from foreign countries and enterprises sign business deals and speak highly of region’s commercial potential . Liu Yutong, director of the investment services bureau at By ZHUAN TI the Chengdu administrative [email protected] committee of Tianfu New Area, said the zone will be the main hengdu, a megacity platform for to con- in western China, duct innovative cooperation is accelerating the I see a lot of good with Germany. C pace of its open- It has planned 10 industrial ing-up by hosting a grow- opportunities in areas, covering fi elds such as ing number of international scientific research, medical events. Chengdu, which health, intelligent manufac- The latest event is the 16th turing and international trade Western China International is very open to and business. Fair, a State-level interna- Other Sino-German cooper- tional exposition under the foreign innovation ation areas in Chengdu include co-sponsorship of China’s and technology.” a 7-square-kilometer industrial 16 ministries, 12 provincial- demonstration park in Cheng- level administrative units Allaga Tamas, a member of the du Hi-tech Zone, a 58.5-square- and the Xinjiang Production Hungarian delegation kilometer auto industry park and Construction Corps in in Longquanyi , as well Northwest China. as a 30-square-kilometer small Chengdu is the permanent and medium-sized enterprises site of the Western China cooperation park in Pujiang International Fair. county. This year’s event, held 1,008 Six companies signed coop- from Nov 3 to 14, drew del- investment projects eration agreements with the egates from 91 countries and Chengdu administrative com- regions, including Guinea were signed by investors from mittee of Tianfu New Area and President Alpha Conde, Serb the world Chengdu Tianfu New Area President Milorad Dodik, Investment Group Co Ltd at German Vice-Chancellor Sig- Participants converse at a Sino-French cooperation forum during the 16th Western China International Fair. the inauguration ceremony, mar Gabriel, and Afghani- PENG CHAO / FOR CHINA DAILY with investment totaling 4 bil- stan’s second vice-president lion yuan ($590 million). Mohammad Sarwar Danesh. The cooperation projects are The exhibition area is yuan ($116.6 billion) were to the fair, said the German meet business partners from environmental monitor- companies to invest in Cheng- mainly in high-end manufac- as large as 200,000 square signed between investors government and German all over the world. ing, agricultural products du and Sichuan. turing, environmental protec- meters. Sixteen countries set from around the world and companies were glad that “The event was very well and fast-moving consumer “The huge market in west- tion, research and develop- up their national pavilions, one municipality, 11 provinc- Germany was the guest of organized. It focused on so goods. ern China and the local gov- ment and high-end services. more than any of the previ- es and autonomous regions honor at the fair. many fi elds, such as mobil- Allaga Tamas, a member ernment’s preferential poli- ous 15 sessions of the fair, in western China, and the “The event off ers a perfect ity, new energy, emergency of the Hungarian delega- cies also attract a great num- according to the organizers. Xinjiang Production and chance for German compa- equipment and aviation, tion, said: “I see a lot of good ber of investors,” he said. Nearly 9,000 firms from Construction Corps. nies to get to know about enabling participants to opportunities in Chengdu, Niethammer said more $590m around the world attended At an investment promo- the investment and develop- communicate with diff erent which is very open to foreign than 300 companies in the worth of investment deals this year’s fair, including tion and matchmaking activ- ment opportunities in Sich- people on diff erent topics,” innovation and technology.” European Union have a pres- signed between six German some of the world’s leading ity, Chengdu signed 19 stra- uan and western China,” he he said. Robin Niethammer, chair- ence in Chengdu, including companies and the Tianfu New fi rms, such as BMW, Daim- tegic and investment coop- said, adding that he looks Sam Guo, chief operating man of the southwest branch Volvo, Siemens and Peugeot. Area ler, METRO, DHL, Google eration agreements worth as forward to deeper coopera- offi cer of car2go China, said of the European Union Cham- Chengdu played host to and Huawei. much as 158.6 billion yuan tion between Chinese and the company is planning to ber of Commerce in China, a number of major events BMW China Automotive The fair highlighted Chi- with investors from home German companies. expand its business in Chi- said the advanced transpor- this year, including the 2016 Trading Ltd will cooperate na’s Belt and Road Initiative. and abroad. Rainer Becker, CEO of car- na, and Chengdu is among tation network of Chengdu, Chengdu Global Innovation with Global Car Sharing & Four halls featuring the ini- Delegates from around the 2go China Co Ltd and head its destinations. including the Chengdu- and Entrepreneurship Fair, Rental Co Ltd to offer time- tiative were set up and sever- world spoke highly of the of business development Some 20 Hungarian com- Europe Express rail that links the G20 Finance Ministers share leasing services of elec- al activities centered on the fair and its host, Chengdu. Asia-Pacifi c for car2go, a 100 panies also attended the western China with Europe, and Central Bank Gover- tric cars to citizens in Tianfu initiative as their main topic. German Vice-Chancellor percent subsidiary of Daim- fair, covering fi elds includ- strengthens Sino-European nors Meeting, and the 22nd New Area. A total of 1,008 investment Sigmar Gabriel, who led a ler AG, said the fair off ered ing industrial manufactur- ties and makes it more con- World Route Development BMW China will provide 100 projects worth 787.7 billion delegation of 500 members him a great opportunity to ing, innovative technology, venient for international Forum. BMW i3 vehicles to the project. Customers will be able to rent the cars by simply using an app on their smart phones. Germany-based ALBA Group, the world’s leading recycling and environmental Western China hub draws leading intl projects services company, will coop- erate with local companies to offer services in Tianfu New By ZHUAN TI created in Chengdu as it is During the fair, Germany- Area, including water treat- designated by the central gov- based Siemens AG signed an ment, solid waste disposal and Chengdu is drawing high- ernment as a nationally cen- agreement worth one billion river improvement. tech projects from around the tral city,” he said. yuan with BOE Technology Axel Schweitzer, chairman world as it becomes more inte- Li said Geely will build the Group’s Chengdu subsidiary of ALBA Group, said the group grated into the world economy. Geely’s success in Chengdu base into one of to help the latter upgrade its has together with Chengdu As an economic center its most important strategic production line. Techcent Environment Indus- in western China, the city Chengdu benefi ts bases for new energy vehicles, According to the agree- try Co Ltd established the larg- attracted a number of high- serving the markets along the ment, Siemens will trans- est-scale cooperation agree- end manufacturing projects from the high effi - Belt and Road. form BOE’s production line ment between a German and during the 16th Western China The Chengdu city govern- in Chengdu according to the Chinese company in the fi eld International Fair, a State-level ciency of the local ment also signed a strategic standards of the German of environmental protection. international exposition held cooperation agreement with Industry 4.0 strategy. Deng Qinhua, chairman of in the city earlier this month. government ...” a group of leading new ener- During the Western China Chengdu Techcent Environ- Zhejiang Geely Holding Li Donghui, executive vice- Chengdu’s exhibition section at the fair shows the provincial gy carmakers to establish a International Fair in 2011, ment Industry, said the com- Group signed three invest- president of Geely capital’s ambition to become a nationally central city. new energy vehicle industry Siemens signed an invest- pany has set up an innovation ment agreements worth 35.5 PHOTOS BY PENG CHAO / FOR CHINA DAILY alliance. ment agreement with the center and an engineering billion yuan ($5.15 billion) with The Chengdu New Energy Chengdu Hi-tech Zone to technology center in Chengdu the city to strengthen coopera- Vehicle Industry Alliance establish the company’s fi rst Science City. tion in auto manufacturing. aims to establish a coopera- modern digital factory in An industrial fund with a Geely started its invest- The second project will tion platform for the whole China. total investment of 5 billion ment in Chengdu in 2007 by bring in Volvo’s Scalable Prod- industrial chain of Chengdu’s In July, Siemens announced yuan was also established to setting up a manufacturing uct Architecture, a global full- new energy auto industry, that it would increase its provide financial support to base. Then in 2010, the com- size unibody automobile plat- helping to make the city an presence in Chengdu by set- German companies that invest pany purchased Volvo, which form developed and produced internationally competitive ting up an independent legal in Chengdu. is headquartered in Gothen- by Volvo. new energy vehicle manufac- company with registered burg, Sweden, and later built The third project will pro- turing base. capital of 330 million yuan. Volvo’s first manufacturing duce Geely’s BMA vehicles, The auto industry is a pillar “Choosing Chengdu was a plant on the Chinese main- using the latest modular of Chengdu’s economy. The wise decision,” said Roland land in Chengdu. architecture system devel- Longquanyi district, located Busch, member of the man- One of the newly signed oped jointly with Volvo, as in eastern Chengdu, has gath- aging board of Siemens dur- projects will be located in the well as advanced hybrid and ered automakers including ing this year’s Western China Chengdu part of the Tian- plug-in hybrid power systems. Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen International Fair. fu New Area, China’s 11th The three projects will have Automobile, FAW-Volkswagen Chengdu will also upgrade national-level development an annual production capac- Visitors shop for amber products from Poland. and Geely, as well as many car its cooperation with Dell Inc area approved by the State ity of 600,000 units. component suppliers. to make its Chengdu manu- Council in October 2014. Li Donghui, executive The city is expected to pro- facturing base into one of the It will produce high-perfor- vice-president of Geely, said value of the Chengdu base to benefi ts from the high effi cien- duce 1.1 million vehicles this company’s most competitive mance, purely electric vehi- the three projects will fur- reach 100 billion yuan after cy of the local government, year, and the local auto indus- R&D and manufacturing bas- German Companies Exhibition cles under the Volvo brand, as ther boost the development the projects are put into the favorable environment try is expected to generate a es in the world, according to Zone at the fair hosts a number well as locally-branded purely of Geely’s Chengdu base. He operation. for investment, as well as the total output value of 200 bil- the city’s investment promo- of leading companies. electric vehicles. expects the annual output “Geely’s success in Chengdu development opportunities lion yuan. tion commission. PENG CHAO / FOR CHINA DAILY