BUSINESS MISSION CHINA 2008 - BEIJING, Harbin & "Chinese Sibiria" (12.-20.06.2008)

Berlin: tr, At the invitation of and in co-operation with the provincial government of Heilongjiang German Global Trade Forum Berlin is organising the 3rd Business Mission to North-East China and Beijing from 12th to 20th June, 2008 in partnership the Fraunhofer-Institute for Production Systems and De-sign Technology, IPK Berlin, the Chinese Embassy in Berlin and with the trading depart-ment of the embassy (“Ministry of Trade”). China’s most North-Easterly province on the border with Russia is among the country’s heavy weights and is now beginning to open up to the rest of world.

Germany is and remains China’s most coveted partner, even if it is becoming apparent that, as competition increases, possibilities for German companies are somewhat in decline. Russia, Kazakhstan, the USA, Japan and South Korea traditionally have a strategic interest in North-East China, which is by no means backward despite increasingly identifiable prejudices, and long ago ceased to exhibit “the structural char-acteristics of old Russian heavy industry investments”. Harbin is traditionally one of the preferred locations in China.

After the successful Business Mission 2007 to Harbin, options were explored of working together with the province in co-operation with the University of Harbin and Berlin’s Fraunhofer-Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology, IPK, on a further Business Mission to North-East China taking place in June 2008 under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Kai Mertins. This Business Mission is to be open to interested companies, association representatives and scientists.

The delegation trip - open for any other European as well - passes through Beijing, where discussions are planned with represen-tatives from commerce and politics in Heilongjiang‘s capital and from there on to among other places, Qiqihar, by far China‘s most significant centre for heavy and machine tool industry. The University of Harbin is noted for its high standards and state-of-the-art infrastructure, where co-operation between business, society and science is demonstra-ble. Accordingly, start-up companies in the field of research have received focused sup-port and cutting-edge application methods have been applied to foster especially those businesses involved in future-oriented industries such as IT, bio and nanotechnology.

During the Business Mission, there will be frank and open discussion of current issues concerning recent event.

The German Chamber of Foreign Trade has declared itself ready to explain the current situation in China to the delegation and other interested participants. The “Chinese Acad-emy for Social Sciences” is the government’s definitive “think tank” as far as strategic questions on political and economic issues are concerned, and will welcome the delega-tion to an exchange of ideas. In particular, we are pleased about the readiness of H.E Mei Zhaorong to greet the delegation. As long-term ambassador of China in both parts of Germany, he is still the authoritative spokesperson on the Chinese-German and Euro-pean policies.

Furthermore, there will be the opportunity to take part in the 19th China Harbin Interna-tional Fair for Trade and Economic Co-operation (website: http://www.00615.net/e14th/index.php ), which is taking place between 15th and 19th June, 2008 in Harbin. The event, which was conceived with the whole of North-East China in mind and has focussed on an international audience since 2007, awakened con-siderable international interest last year. Since then “Harbin the capital of Siberia” is by no means an exaggeration. The massive presence of Russian, Korean, Japanese and even US companies and delegations underpins the old strategic significance of not just North-East China, but also and especially of the developing economic region as a whole, and is demonstrated not least by the considerable raw material resources at hand. Al-though the old nomenclature of “Manchuria” is frowned upon, an historical perspective of the interests of the old colonial powers makes it clear what this region is still all about. Today, both Chinese and Russian companies are setting the course for development. However, the interest of strategic industries in the region and its potential remain as strong as ever.

Raw materials, resources and vast land spaces in exchange for industrial development, research, production and project development: these are the buzzwords which will be-come reality over the coming decades. Reason enough to take the chance of building reciprocal relationships based on common advantage as early as possible.

The wealth of resources in North-East Asia through to Alaska/Canada, as well as for Europeans the extremely agreeable climate, are conclusive arguments for Germany‘s partner countries in South-East Asia to sharpen their profile as an alternative economic area to Japan, China and, in the future, India, in the awareness of the need to continually improve in order to withstand competition from other regions. Occasional sobering ex-periences of China’s booming liberalised market, of which there have been more than a few, have contributed to the conviction, especially in North-East China, that the future of a modern society depends upon sustainable regard for nature and the environment.

This is reason enough to follow in the path of other successful examples of development projects abroad. Merging demand and reality can and indeed must be the result of ex-emplary co-operation, which creates a win-win situation, and is the most important pre-requisite for success in every single project.
We most warmly invite you to work with us towards the development of relations with the region and to acquaint yourself with these personally by participating in the delegation.

Contact for participation: berlin@germanglobaltrade.de

German Global Trade Forum Berlin
Spichernstr. 15
Director RA/HTA Eberhard J. Trempel
10777 Berlin
Tel. 030-212486-0
Fax. 030-2185432
email: Berlin@germanglobaltrade.de

The German Global Trade Forum Berlin is an international network in Berlin to promote international trade, service, investment and exchange. Beeing a typical "ngo" the Forum acts as the plattform for dialog for private and public institutions in Germany and abroad.

This release was published on openPR.