Meeting with Henan Provincial Bureau of Commerce, China (Henan) Pilot Free Trade Zone Office

2019-05-31 | Beijing

      The delegation from Henan thanked the European Chamber for the meeting opportunity and gave an introduction of the Henan Free Trade Zone (HNFTZ), including its history, achievement, etc. Deputy Directory (DDG) Mr. YANG Kaijie from the HNTFZ stated that the HNFTZ prioritized the development of logistics, finance, smart manufacturing, and culture sectors. Also, China-Europe Railway Express runs regularly between Zhengzhou and Luxembourg. HNFTZ is working on improving business environment for foreign business from both the market access angle and the regulatory environment angles. For example, HNFTZ is keen to continue shortening the time for construction and getting licenses.

      Mr. Hayward, General Manager of European Chamber Beijing Office, gave an introduction of the Chamber and shared the general position of the Chamber on FTZ with the counterparts. The Chamber welcomes pilot policies in improving market access for foreign business and believes that such policies shall roll out nationwide as soon as possible. Foreign business makes investment decisions based on long-term strategy instead of short-term preferential treatment. Therefore, a level playing field and equal market access is more important when attracting foreign investment. During this part, Mr. Hayward gave an example of a member company’s encounter in Tianjin to illustrate the unequal treatment it received. In the financial sector, although since last year, the market access for foreign financial services providers have been improved, it is still difficult for them to obtain licenses to start their businesses.

     At the end of the meeting, Mr. YANG said HNFTZ would host a financial and logistic summit in Sept/Oct this year and would like to invite 50 companies to join the summit. HNFTZ hopes that European companies to join. Mr. Hayward appreciated the invitation and expressed that European Chamber is willing to provide recommendations on how to improve business environment so that everyone can benefit from the fair competition. Mr. Hayward presented the Position Paper and Business Confidence Survey to Mr. YANG.