Summer Davos boosts Dalian's opening up

By Zhu Chengpei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-10 08:38

Dalian, the port city in Liaoning province, will take the chance of the ongoing annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) New Champions to hasten the process of its opening up to the outside world, says Xia Deren, Party secretary of the Dalian Municipal Party Committee.

Also known as Summer Davos, the three-day event attracts about 1,500 government officials, business and media leaders, scholars and scientists from around the world.

Xia believes the meeting spawns a number of potential business opportunities.

More and more foreign business conglomerates are running businesses in Dalian, a leading player in the coastal economic belt in Liaoning province, which was approved by the State Council as a national strategy in July.

The coastal economic belt consists of 28 key economic areas, of which half are located in Dalian, covering 54 percent of the province's land area.

"We hope communication with the global top 1,000 companies will bring more big projects to Dalian and the coastal region," says Xia.

The city has organized various activities to showcase Dalian.

As of the end of May, the city had 13,291 companies with foreign investment, including 88 Fortune 500 companies.

Dalian-based companies, especially the Global Growth Companies, or members of Summer Davos, are gaining a foothold in the global market through the WEF, says Xia.

He adds that China's efforts and successes in macro-economic control will be stressed to the forum's participants.

"What they see in Dalian and what they learn from the others in the meeting will show that the economy of China is recovering," the official says.

"The current situation of China will give the world confidence to weather the financial crisis."

According to Xia, as a result of China's macro-control policy, which was initiated last September, Dalian's GDP enjoyed a year-on-year growth of 11.6 percent in the first half of 2009.

He also believes environmental concerns will become more important post-crisis.

"The climate crisis is more serious than the financial crisis in the long run," he says.

"Dalian should strengthen the development of its environmentally friendly industries like wind power, nuclear power, new energy automobiles, LED (light emitting diode), and photo electric industry.

"Opportunities in a green economy" is one of the five major topics at the annual summit. Participants will discuss the new opportunities arising from investments in a green economy.

The city will try to boost its green industries, Xia says. Besides the economy, the city will benefit in many other aspects from hosting the meeting, according to the official.

"After Dalian hosted the first annual meeting in 2007, several members of the World Economic Forum like BT, Intel, and Citi Bank started or expanded their investment in Dalian," he says.

"The beautiful environment, the vitality and energy, and the harmony between environment protection and economic development, impressed their decision-makers."

Government officials too familiarized themselves with international rules and common practices while cooperating with the WEF organizers.

"For example," Xia says, "the officials learned that international practice is more important than enthusiasm in providing services to the attendees."

He says the benefit of hosting the meeting is much bigger than the investment. It has drawn the attention of many mainstream media around the world.

"Dalian has gained rapid recognition on the world stage through the Summer Davos," he says.

"Also, the world has got to know China better through Dalian, an epitome of China's achievements of the past 30 years of reform and opening-up."