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Fairs bolster city's economy

By Song Hongmei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-21 17:08

Numerous investment projects were inked during the trade fair.

Despite the ongoing financial crisis, Nanjing's economic and trade fair saw key investment projects at an increase this year.

Ninty-four projects, including 57 foreign and 37 domestic-investment projects, were signed during the fair in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, with the total agreements reaching 109 billion yuan, compared to 67 billion yuan in 2008.

Zhao Xiaojiang, vice mayor of Nanjing, attributed the increase to policies local governments have adopted in order to expand domestic demand and enhance industry upgrading.

The economic and trade fair this year, including a conference promoting high-end industries and a trade fair of Taiwanese goods, is part of the government's efforts to maintain a steady growth amid the current international financial crisis, Zhao told China Daily.

Zhao's views were echoed by Hans-Christian Marxen, Nanjing board chair of the European Union Chamber of Commerce, when he gave an exclusive interview with China Daily.

"The stimulus activities geared towards internal demand that the government has undertaken have proven quite successful," Marxen said.

Development in Nanjing has been particularly robust both before and following the global economic downturn, largely because most companies operating in the city target the domestic market, he said.

"The crisis will not affect our European companies here that much as they focus on the Chinese market. By investing here and producing here one could still expect a gross domestic product growth of about eight percent this year," he added.

During the first eight months of this year, the Nanjing economy expanded 10.7 percent, fiscal revenue grew 15.9 percent and local residents' per capita income witnessed a rise of 10.2 percent.

The figures indicate Nanjing's economic development during the period is better than the national average, said Ji Jianye, acting mayor of Nanjing at a signing ceremony for those 94 projects held in Nanjing last Thursday.

Wang Chih-Kang, board chairman of Taipei World Trade Center and also co-organizer of the Taiwan trade fair said Taiwanese companies should also take advantage of the island's historic relations with Nanjing to expand their presence in the mainland, where 1.3 billion eager consumers are nowhere to be found but here.

"No businessmen will invest tens of billion yuan in a city just because it boasts scenic spots or it has a charismatic mayor," said Huang Jia, partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

"To lure foreign investment, a place needs to have strong overall competency, be they convenient location and transportation system, established international markets, ample human resources, sophisticated financial service and efficient local government," Huang said.

Related readings:  Double harvests on trade fair's first day  Taiwan Trade Fair opens in Nanjing  China (Nanjing) Economic and Trade Fair kicks off  30,000 varieties of goods grant Nanjing natives a glimpse of Taiwan

According to a report released by PwC recently, Nanjing has all those ideal factors for foreign investors in eastern China, as it seeks to become a leading industrial base for the manufacturing and modern service sector.

Forty of the signed 94 projects go to the modern service industry including financial investment, and tourism; the remaining 54 are involved in manufacturing projects which mainly focus on electronic information, automotive parts and new energy facilities.

The total investment of the 57 foreign-investment projects amounts to $5.77 billion, while the contracted foreign investment hit $15.9 billion.

Twenty one of the foreign-funded projects, including the second phase of the Hongqiao Center, a solar photovoltaic production base, a Tangshan hot spring resort, and an outlet for world-renowned brands, each have over $30 million worth of investment, which accounts for 37 percent of the total.

Thirty-five among the 57 foreign investment projects, or 62 percent of the total, are from Taiwan province and Hong Kong special administrative region; 11 are from other Asian countries and regions such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Indonesia, which constitutes 19 percent of the total; the remaining 11 are investments by the US and European companies.

The investment of the 37 domestic-funded projects reached 69.6 billion yuan. Four of them: TEF-LCD production by Nanjing China Electronics Panda Group, Smart Grid protection, a district business center and an entertainment center, will have an investment of more than ten billion yuan each.

Delegates representing foreign embassies, commerce chambers, and economic institutions from over 30 countries attended the conference. Also, more than 400 senior managers were also present from Fortune 500 companies including the US tech giant Cisco, US computer giant International Business Machines Corp (IBM) and South-Korea's LG Display Co.