Jiangxi province is welcoming more global enterprises to work with its regional companies, said Hu Youtao, the provincial vice-governor, at the Chinese Pavilion during the 2015 Milan Expo.
Attending a promotional expo event called Jiangxi Day, Hu led a delegation that included Director of Agriculture Hu Hanping and Vice-Director of Commerce Liu Cuilan in the hopes of creating a high-level platform for enterprises in Jiangxi and Italy to hammer out trade deals.
After the event, Jiangxi provincial officials signed contracts with the Italy-China Chamber of Commerce and with the Swiss city of Lugano, though no details were available.
Italian enterprises like D D SAS, ITC Industries and Banca della Svizzera Italiana also attended the event and expressed their willingness to hash out business deals with China.
Jiangxi has been making progress in international trade. Last year, its exports totaled $32 billion, 13.8 percent higher than in 2013, making it the second-largest exporter in the eastern region of China.
It exports agricultural and labor-intensive products as well as high-tech ones such as solar panels and electronics. Last year, the solar panel industry in the province increased its exports by 47.2 percent from 2013.
"Jiangxi's air and water quality is among the best of the nation," said Yu Ping, vice-president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. "This special advantage makes the quality of its agricultural products trustworthy."
Liu Cuilan, Jiangxi's vice-director of commerce, said the region is not only welcoming foreign direct investment and exports, but also encouraging enterprises within the province to invest abroad.
"The provincial leadership has placed special emphasis on Jiangxi enterprises to go overseas. We are working on efforts toward that goal," said Liu, who is also president of the Jiangxi division for the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
Last month, Qiang Wei, the provincial Party chief, paid official visits to Australia, New Zealand and Singapore to discuss how Jiangxi enterprises can conduct businesses in Oceania and Southeast Asia. Governor Lu Xinsheng is scheduled to pay a visit to Russia for similar purposes.
In recent years, engineering and construction companies in Jiangxi have seen an increase in orders from foreign countries.
In Ethiopia and Uganda, at least 20 percent of the Chinese enterprises constructing bridges are from Jiangxi. In 2014, Jiangxi enterprises signed 91 orders valued at $5 million or above, a 18 percent year-on-year growth. China Jiangxi Corp for International Economic and Technical Cooperation, Zhongmei Engineering Group Ltd, and Zhongding International Construction Group, three Jiangxi-based enterprises, were selected last year into the Top 250 Contractors Global by the US magazine Engineering News-Record.
Yu also emphasized the importance of Chinese enterprises going overseas.
The economies that would be part of the Belt and Road Initiative are key points of emphasis for Jiangxi.
In Russia and Central Asia, the province's total value of trade contracts reached $727 million last year, one-fourth the province's total. The province's foreign direct investment covers nine out of the 10 ASEAN economies, with the total value reaching $170 million.
As Liu said in her speech at the Jiangxi Day event, "Jiangxi was once an important starting point for the Silk Road. Now, it is an important place for the national Belt and Road Initiative."
Among the enterprises going global are Jiangxi's companies within the traditional porcelain industry of Jingdezhen. Since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Jingdezhen has become the nation's center of porcelain-making because of its high-quality clay.
Its status as the porcelain capital of the nation has remain untouched for the past 1,000 years.
"Jiangxi is a place with passion and fortune," Liu said. "We have sped up building the modern market system and are pursuing an honest and upright government. We sincerely hope our global friends visit and invest in the province."
zhangzhouxiang@chinadaily.com.cn
( China Daily European Weekly 07/24/2015 page16)