Deputy Director-General Li Yue embraces the European Chamber’s active approach for enhanced relation Go back »

2010-06-29 | South China

The European Chamber delegation, lead by PRD Board Member Benoit Stos, was warmly welcomed by the DDG Li Yue from the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation on June 4th. After having jointly hosted the “Europe Day 2010” event on May 14th, DDG Li suggested that the two organizations have establish truly close relations. Further, he recognized the work of the European Chamber as providing a valuable service to Chinese government authorities such as his own and identified labour and environmental topics as especially important.

The meeting, initiated by the European Chamber, focused on receiving answers to questions previously raised by European Chamber member companies. The most frequently asked questions related to the various investment focuses of the Guangzhou districts; which industries are favoured and which are restricted. Mr. Li gave a basic outline of Guangzhou’s investment planning strategy. According to this strategy, Guangzhou is divided into three areas: “Old Guangzhou”, The Villages” and areas reserved for environmental protection.

Following a practice officials have studied in Europe, the “Old Guangzhou” is steadily transforming by altering the function of existing buildings, rather than destroying them. Covering districts such as Yuexiu, Liwan, Haizhu and Huangpu, the plan is to establish a strong base of service industry in these areas, e.g. commerce, R&D, design and cultural institutions among others, while prohibiting or relocating the manufacturing enterprises.

“The Villages” including Baiyun, Huadu, Zengcheng, Luogang (GETDD), Panyu and Nansha, are the main industrial bases for the Guangzhou economy, but have different focuses. While the developing districts focus on R&D and labour unintensive industries, Huadu, Zengchang and Nansha still allow labour intensive industries. Specialty in Nansha are industries relaying on a seaport, e.g. heavy machinery, and Huadu (around Baiyun International Airport) is improving its infrastructure to accommodate industries relying on rapid delivery, such as printing of periodicals, microchips and fashion.

Conghua and Huadu have been identified as areas crucial for maintaining a high protection standard for the environment.

The Guangzhou Development and Reform Commission in responsible for industrial planning. They have put forward plans for six districts already and will continue for the other districts, giving investors a good overview of Guangzhou’s investment structure.

Nansha Development District is increasingly attracting companies setting up manufacturing sites, but member companies feel the city life needs improvements to meet the needs of employees and create a more livable environment. Mr. Li replied that the BOFTEC and Vice-Mayor Chen Mingde have identified this problem. As example he mentioned the IT park provides good infrastructure, but no recreational space.

A point frequently mentioned by companies, but not measurable, is that companies have the feeling that Guangzhou is more difficult manage administrational tasks than in other cities. DDG Li acknowledged this point, but pointed out that the approval process in Guangzhou is not great, but OK in comparison to other Chinese cities. Reasons for some restrictions, e.g. trading company’s registered capital, are due to bad experiences in the past, i.e. misuse for visa applications. He noted that companies will now be categorised according to their compliance record for the purpose of better management. If problems arise during the registration process of European Chamber member companies, the European Chamber can help to address these with our contact person (from a division under the jurisdiction of Mr. Li) and provide assistance in solving the problem.

The European Chamber thanks the GZ BOFTEC for its openness and will pursue efforts to maintain this close relationship.

For further information, please contact:

Dominik Ehmann, Business Manager
European Union Chamber of Commerce in China
Phone: +86 (0)20 3801 0267
E-mail: dehmann@euccc.com.cn
Website: www.euccc.com.cn