Meeting with SAEFI Officials ? European Chamber Office Go back »

2008-04-01 | Shanghai

Meeting with SAEFI Officials – European Chamber Office 

On 27th March 2008, the European Chamber had the pleasure of a visit from SAEFI (Shanghai Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment) officials. Mr. Zhu Wen Bin, Division Chief of the Foreign Investment Division led the delegation which also consisted of Ms. Zhang Rong Jie, Secretary General, Mr Julian Zhou, Director and Ms Chen Zhuoya, Vice Director of Information Department.

The European Chamber delegation consisted of Mr. Thomas Felber, General Manager, Dr Ioana Kraft, Senior Business Manager, Ms Dearbhail Usher, Business Manager and Ms. Adele Wang, Government Affairs Manager.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss future cooperation between the two sides. Since our last meeting almost six months ago, Ms. Dearbhail Usher updated SAEFI on the European Chamber’s plans to host a national CSR conference together with China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) on 2nd and 3rd June 2008 at CEIBS campus. Since SAEFI hosted a CSR conference in Shanghai in 2007 of which the European Chamber were guests, Ms Usher invited close cooperation with SAEFI on the CSR Conference. Mr Zhu and Ms Zhang were delighted to learn of the European Chamber’s plans to host a CSR conference on “Responsible Competitiveness in China” and also expressed their willingness to cooperate with the European Chamber on inviting their members and also approaching Chinese companies to be speakers at this event.

Thomas Felber, General Manager of the European Chamber, then discussed other cooperation opportunities with SAEFI such as helping to provide updates to European Chamber members on EXPO developments in Shanghai. This is particularly relevant for the SME companies who may not have access to regular information that larger and more prominent companies will receive. 

SAEFI also asked for our help in approaching speakers to talk to Chinese companies on how to invest in European countries. SAEFI is beginning to see some interest from Chinese companies in investing abroad and would like to host breakfast seminars where Chinese companies can gain this information to help decide on a suitable location in Europe.

In conclusion, SAEFI and the European Chamber agreed to continue cooperation on events and to continue dialogue to ensure regular information updates from both sides.