Meeting with Economic & Industry Counsellor of German Embassy

2017-04-25 | Beijing

On April 25, Ms. Florence de Goldfiem, Automotive Working Group Chair and Mr. Mats Harborn, Automotive Working Group Vice Chair had a lunch meeting with Stefan Bernhart, Economic & Industry Counsellor, German Embassy.  The discussion centered on the Automotive Industry Mid-Long Term Development Plan ( the Plan), which was jointly released by National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) , Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). The chairs of Automotive Working Group brought up to Stephan’s attention that the Planincluded a proposal to relax joint venture (JV) requirements for foreign car manufacturers in an orderly manner. This is the first official mention in writing that the Chinese Government intends to relax the JV shareholder limit, after many years of lobbying on this issue in European chamber’s annual Position Paper. Both sides agreed to look to the relevant Chinese authorities for a timeline, as well as clarification as to whether the Plan will result in a complete lifting of the cap.