A number of enterprises from China and Europe have reached cooperation agreements during a business fair underway in Chengdu, capital city of Southwest China’s Sichuan province.
The 13th EU-China Business and Technology Cooperation Fair attracts hundreds of enterprises from China and 18 European countries, including 14 EU member states, which covers a wide range of areas, such as modern agriculture, bio-pharmaceutical, new energy and environmental protection sectors.
Chen Hui, founder of Sichuan Lyuyuan Technology Company, also tried to seek partnership from the annual event as his new product – a new type of wind power generator with six proprietary technologies – is about to go into mass production.
“We will try to bring this product to the European market through partnership with some companies there. Europe will be our major target market,” Chen told CGTN. He reached initial intention of cooperation with several European companies at the fair.
Michael Kranz, CEO of Matchbird from Germany, an agency specialized in matching partners for their clients, said China is a huge market with a lot of potentials, and the southwestern region is where new opportunities grow.
“We met some people with fantastic ideas, and they fit the European and US markets. This is what we’re looking for, not just cheap suppliers. We look for business collaboration on a high level for win-win situations,” said Kranz.
“The Chinese market is much bigger than the Russian market. For our portfolio companies, it will also be interesting to penetrate this market for more possibilities to develop business.”
The EU has been China’s largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years, and China is the bloc’s second largest trading partner. As China pledges wider market access, the two sides are expected to deepen bilateral trade relations amid rising protectionism.
Elżbieta Bieńkowska, European Commissioner for Single Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said as natural partners, China and European countries should learn more from each other and more importantly, further open up to each other, especially at a difficult time for the world’s economy.
“We need openness as I repeated a few times during the visit. European union economy is an open economy, we will not, we don’t want, do not intend to build new walls. We want to be open economy, we think globalization is a good thing,” Bieńkowska told CGTN.
“Both of our economies are quite strong in some parts. The exchange of information together with equal treatment to our companies will give us enormous impetus,” she added.
The previous 11 fairs have witnessed more than 2,000 cooperation agreements between Chinese and European companies. The event has become an important bridge for West China to seek cooperation with Europe.
