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2006-11-10 | Beijing

Europe-Asia Networking Event a Success

The beginning of November has been a busy time in Chengdu in Sichuan province because the European Commission has chosen this to be the place for their three projects: Asia-Invest Forum, the Partenariat and the Showcase Europe- all during the same week starting from Sunday 5th November with Asia-Invest Forum through Showcase Europe and the Partenariat finishing 10th November. Chengdu, a second-tier city in south China, surrounded by different industries was chosen to host these three events by different vendors: Asia-Invest Forum 2006 was organised by The European Chamber of Commerce in China, The Partenariat 2006 has been organised by CCPIT Chengdu and the Showcase Europe by the Delegation in China; all with the help of Chengdu Government.

The Asia-Invest Forum 2006 was held at the Crowne Plaza in the centre of Chengdu, on 5th to 7th of November. The event was an enormous success in terms of the quantity of participants and actual networking meetings. This was the 5th edition of the Asia-Invest Forum, with 113 participants from all around Europe and Asia, with one thing in mind: to create better networks and cooperation projects to improve the trade between Europe and Asia.

On the first official day of the conference, the participants joined two of four different working groups:

1. Starting Co-operation Projects: This working group touched on issues such as how to start projects, how to find partners, how to find the correct grant and how to go through the application process. This working group also discussed ongoing projects and former ones in order to exchange best practices.

2. Regional and Sub-regional Co-operation: European entities are keen to think of Asia as one big market, but the one-size-fits-all model is a model that cannot be applied anymore. This working group aims were to encourage SME cooperation projects and to introduce regional cooperation projects between Asian countries.

3. Sustainability of Co-operation Projects: The most difficult aspect of projects is their implementation, management and follow-up process after it has finished. This working group discussed how to ensure the financial and institutional sustainability of a project and how to effectively communicate project results.

4. Strengthening the role of European Union in Asia: This group discussed the way the European Union is represented in Asia by the different Chambers of Commerce. The working group aims were to provide a clear understanding of Europe's trade issues in Asia and to discuss best practices on how to advance trade and investment.

The second day of the forum was dedicated to individual face-to-face networking meetings for participants to choose their own meeting partners in order to discuss certain project proposals. Altogether 517 meetings were made between participants representing hundreds if not thousands of companies.

The forum was a success with over a hundred contented participants leaving Chengdu with the right contacts for possible future projects. Of course the real success of this event will be only known after the projects have been planned and implemented and measured by their own success.