Meeting with Fujian Provincial Department of Commerce

2019-07-04 | Beijing

On 4th July, Chen Qi, director, Division of Foreign Investment Administration, Fujian Provincial Department of Commerce, visited the European Chamber’s Beijing office and was received by Adam Dunnett, secretary general (SG) of the European Chamber.

Director Chen asked about the recent investment trend and confidence levels among European companies in China, and how the Fujian Provincial Department of Commerce could be of service to European companies. SG Dunnett responded that the overall willingness to invest in China among European companies is still high. He said while many positive reforms have been achieved, despite these efforts, the entire system was not moving in the same direction. SG Dunnet pointed out that in fact, although foreign direct investment (FDI) in China has been growing, investment from Europe has been declining since 2016.

Volker Mueller, Senior Business Manager of the European Chamber, mentioned 95% of the healthcare equipment in Europe are manufactured by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). China likes to attract big companies with brand names well-known. For SMEs, the entry barriers to China are still high. SG Dunnett added on this point with an example that a small company suffers from unnecessary and significant financial burden because of office rental requirement.

Mr Chen admitted that although the business environment in China is improving dramatically, globally, it still ranks in the middle. He agreed to share difficulties faced by European companies to a higher level government. Additionally, he agreed to connect the European Chamber with Fujian Healthcare Security Administration. He also asked the European Chamber to help with Fujian’s promotion activities in Europe.

The two sides exchanged documents at the end of this meeting. SG Dunnett presented the Business Confidence Survey 2019 to Mr Chen.