California Business Portal

The official California website promoting international trade and investment is found at http://www.businessportal.ca.gov. Their address is

1325 J St., Suite 1800
Sacramento, CA 95814

And their telephone: +1 877 345-4633

California ranks first in GDP among US states, placing it at the 1×1 pole position within the G8x8 territories. In 2016, California took a share of 14.1% of the USA total GDP. This was worth $2,602,672 million or 2.6 trillion US Dollars, just as much as the GDP of the United Kingdom (ranking 5th among countries).

 

Andhra Pradesh Economic Development

The Economic Development Board (EDB) has to accelerate the inclusive economic growth of Andhra Pradesh. The board acts as a catalyst to facilitate economic growth, investment climate, reforms, and competitiveness in Andhra Pradesh.

The functions of the Economic Development Board include:

  • Strategic investment planning and promotion
  • Nodal point of contact for investments
  • Mobilisation of resources required for supplementing public and private investment
  • Facilitating inter-departmental coordination
  • Economic and policy research

For more information, check out http://apedb.gov.in/

Andhra Pradesh ranks 7th among India’s states, and is located at slot 7×7 of our G8x8.

New York Promotes Guangxi

The Greater New York Chamber of Commerce will hold an investment and trade promotion event for Guangxi province of China on 25 October 2017. Participation is free for members, non-members will be charged $25. Contact +1 212-686-7220 or info@chamber.nyc for more information and to register, or see their event announcement here.

The event is promoted by the Guangxi provincial department of commerce.

A similar event was hosted by the Greater New York Chamber in October 2015. At that time, the Guangxi delegation included six governmental delegates, six economic and trade delegates, and five delegates from the Chinese Consulate General in New York. They spoke about investment opportunities in Guangxi.

Information and image source: Greater New York Chamber of Commerce.

The State of New York ranks third among US states in GDP, placing it on the 1×3 field of the global G8x8 chess board of most productive territories of the most productive countries. In 2016, the state contributed 8.1 percent to the national GDP. This was an amount of $1,488 billion, almost as much as all of Canada produced at the same time. Guangxi Autonomous Region, on the other hand, ranks only 17th among Chinese provinces and is not yet listed a G8x8 member.

 

Scotland’s Space Sector is Soaring

In the last two years, Glasgow has built more satellites than any other city in Europe.

Scotland punches above its weight when it comes to the space industry, particularly around the NewSpace area of small satellite systems (smallsats) and space data solutions companies.

It is estimated that more than 250 smallsats will be launched into space in 2017 across the global industry – four times the number of all other satellites combined.

NewSpace companies in Scotland include:

  • Orbital Access – horizontal launch provision
  • Clyde Space – design and build of cubesats
  • Spire Global – inward investor focusing on the development/operation of cubesat constellations and providing data products across marine-based sectors
  • Ecometrica – end-to-end environmental software as a service
  • Astrosat – data software service working across earth observation and satellite communications

Scotland ranks 5th in GDP among the top-level administrative territories of the United Kingdom, placing it at the 5×5 spot of the G8x8. In 2015, the scottish GDP amounted to 127.3 billion €. This was about 7.6 percent of the UK total and just about the same as that of the State of Qatar.

 

Building a Strong Platform

China Daily Editor’s note

As a German federally-owned enterprise, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a global service provider in international cooperation and professional training for sustainable development. GIZ operates in 130 countries with 17,000 staff members worldwide and provides policy advice, knowledge transfer, capacity building and organisational development support in areas where German know-how is world-leading.

GIZ has more than three decades of experience in cooperation with China, and 28 years with Northeast China. What changes happened in Shenyang over the past decades? What are the main achievements of the cooperation between Germany and Shenyang? Helmut Schönleber, Programme Director of GIZ, shares his views with China Daily.

Q: What role does GIZ play in promoting the cooperation between Germany and Shenyang? What are the main achievements?

Commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development, GIZ launched projects in China since 1982. We began our first project in Northeast China in 1986, a Training Centre for Welding in Harbin. Just a few years later, we started to support the Liaoning Vocational and Technical Education Research Centre in Shenyang, and implemented our regional projects from our Shenyang Office ever since.

In the Liaoning Employment Promotion and Training Programme, we worked together with our Chinese partners on improving the labour market structure, supported highly skilled talent training, provided training for business start-ups, and initiated a Public-Private Cooperation Project between BMW-Brilliance and vocational schools in Shenyang. In total, we held more than 60 symposiums and trainings with over 2,500 participants.

In 2011, we started to cooperate with Development and Reform Commissions in a programme to support the new State Council strategy on integration and coordination of economic development in the Northeast. The programme achieved a good improvement in cooperation between provincial stakeholders, and contributed to an impulse on German business contacts with Northeast China.

In our projects, we arranged many mutual visits of German and Shenyang officials, experts, and entrepreneurs to build new partnerships. Germany established a Consulate General in Shenyang, and German Lufthansa Airlines connected Frankfurt and Shenyang with a non-stop flight, starting in 2012.

Q: Why are German enterprises interested in investing in Shenyang?

Germany and Northeast China are similar in climate and in the character and business habits of our people, such as seeking excellence in profession. More and more Germans know about the economic development of the Shenyang Metropolitan Area as a hub to reach all of Northeast Asia. When we did research for our “China Liaoning Business Guide”, we even found out that Liaoning was the fastest growing sub-national region in the world, far ahead of Ile-de-France, Greater London, California, Tokyo-to or Bavaria. Both the matching character of people and the amazing growth opportunities are important for attracting German enterprises.

The cooperation between Germany and Shenyang initially focused on big enterprises such as BMW and Brilliance, but the centre of attention is now shifting to small and medium enterprises. They are concerned with demand and supply, the location of customers and competitors, and the political environment when selecting their location for investment.

Q: What factors will German investors consider if they want to invest in Shenyang?

Aside from industry-specific key factors, German companies consider investing here due to the national Shenyang Metro development plan and the preferential policies expected to be applied. Compared to other locations, the Shenyang workforce has a higher level of professional training, but there is still much room for improvement. The city and the provincial government seem to pay attention to provide quality human resources for foreign enterprises.

Q: What’s your suggestion for companies in Shenyang on attracting German partners?

Firstly, German enterprises like to cooperate with foreign partners in the same field of operations. So, Shenyang enterprises should get to know German enterprises in their specific market niche.

Secondly, German companies like partners who apply a similar work attitude as they do. They like precision, specialization, efficiency, reliability, honesty, and openness. Shenyang enterprises with those characteristics will more easily succeed in finding German partners.

It is one of the objectives in our Northeast Programme to promote economic cooperation between enterprises of our two countries. Within our project, over 200 north-eastern enterprises will build cooperation with Germany. We will provide entrepreneurs of Shenyang the opportunity to meet German entrepreneurs. It will be up to them to turn these opportunities into successful cooperation.

Q: In your opinion, what needs to be improved in Shenyang?

Foreign enterprises need foreign people. I suggest Shenyang to pay more attention to providing proper services for these people, such as more international schools for their children, international food and entertainment, and convenient public transportation. Foreigners and Chinese alike also love clean air, so try to improve air quality.

Foreign enterprises also need a strong vocational training system trimmed to their specific needs. German enterprises consider their long-term development more than others, so they require the availability of talents they need in 10 or 20 years.

Shenyang has been looking at the experience of the German Ruhr Area, and adopted some of the lessons learnt. I think there is still much more to be exchanged. Why not intensify the twinning between Shenyang and Düsseldorf and between Liaoning and Baden-Württemberg? We at GIZ will be happy to assist in all these endeavours.

Chateau Hansen

Organic wine from the Desert

Speech of Han Jianping, Chairman of Inner Mongolia Hansen Winery Group Co., Ltd. in Los Angeles, California, 2013-04-20:

Han Jianping, Owner of Chateau Hansen

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very happy to come to the City of Angels – Los Angeles, where the scenery is very beautiful! Here I feel the unique atmosphere of Southern California and meet so many new friends, that it makes me feel at home.

I am fortunate to participate in this forum with you, because we share a common ideal: we are concerned about the global environment, we aim to create green wealth, and we promote an ecological civilization.

I come from Wuhai City in the desert of Inner Mongolia of Western China, and own a wine business. We spent ten years time to grow high-quality wine grapes in our desert area. Growing wine grapes in this area has created a miracle. The story I bring to you today is our true life story of the past ten years.

The world’s desert area accounts for about 21% of the world’s total land area. Total desertification in China is ​​2.62 million square kilometers, accounting for 27% of the land area. China is one of the countries seriously harmed by desertification, and therefore, sand control is a part of China’s basic national policy.

Wuhai City, my hometown, is located in the West Ordos Plateau, where the two deserts of Ulan Buhe and Kubuchi meet. We have perennial drought, an annual rainfall of about 100mm, and we are located at latitude 39°. This area is ideal for growing grapes of best quality. In 2001, in order to play the grapes advantage to support local viticulture, my brother Mr. Han Shengping gave everything to cultivate grape seedling, to grow grapes in the desert, to establish wineries, and to turn his winemaking career dreams into reality.

After several years of hard work, he looked in the direction of desert viticulture and laid the basis for a growing wine industry. His arduous pioneering and heavy overwork led to his untimely death in 2004. He gave his life for the development of the regional desert wine industry.

I put aside my own enterprise and inherited my brother’s dream of the desert grape and wine. The companies and products are named after him, which is the origin of “Hansen”. Me and my family increased investment starting in 2005, and extended the plantation of wine grapes in the desert.

Wuhai has a desert climate, with little wind and rain, and a sparse vegetation. We have adopted a mode of “grass as a basis, trees as a supplement”, to create a micro-environment protecting the grape seedlings. We so achieve the purpose of windbreak and sand to create conditions for the large-scale cultivation of grapes. We use Israeli drip irrigation technology, and apply organic fertilizer to cultivate organic grapes. After failing again and again, we finally formed our own cropping patterns, built in the desert a piece of lush vineyards and the first desert organic winery in western China!

Hansen’s green industry model is: “based on the Wuhai quality grape-producing areas, using industrial sand grass to open up the grape planting base. We transfer the traditional, passive and transfusion sand control mode, into an active, hematopoietic mode of taking advantage of the desert. Our efforts have not only changed the desert into an oasis, but also made desert vineyards output quality grapes. With our good desert organic grapes, plus an outstanding team of winemakers and international quality production process, we built a first-class organic wine production base in China’s western desert.

Since 2006, Hansen wine won three gold medals at the wine competition in Asia, 2010 became Shanghai World Expo DVNET Pavilion designated wine. Since 2011, we participated in two International Bordeaux Wine Fairs of France, and won twice gold medal in Berlin, Germany, and gold and silver medals several times in France, Britain and other countries. We gained export license to six countries in Europe, and in 2012 became well-known trademark in China!

In review, first of all I want to thank my older brother. He had no regrets having selected desert grape and wine as his cause. I also like to thank the vastness of the desert and endless winding of the Yellow River, for motivating our selfless dedication. Although we have done something for ecological construction and promote the development of local industry, we are most grateful for the great support of the people.

In our green wealth creation process, we follow the famous Chinese academic scientist Qian Xuesen, developer of the modern sand industry concept, who is known as “the father of the sand industry”. Under the guidance of his theory, we scientifically make use of sand, and turn the previously considered maleficial desert to the benefit of mankind, producing high-quality organic wine products which in other areas are difficult to achieve.

Our cause is attached to the whole world. Because everyone who tastes Hansen Desert Organic Wine ingests not only the health and taste, but also our social responsibility and the benefit of mankind feelings.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the philosophy our Hansen people have always pursued: Through the desert cultivation, protection of the environment, dedication to the consumer, we form one positive interaction between industry and society. We inspire the whole community concerned about nature. The whole world agrees with a healthy and sustainable model of development, that at the same time meets human material needs, and takes ecological construction into account. Let us look forward to the future of the human race and jointly build a beautiful Earth!

I sincerely invite you to come to our desert organic winery as a guest! We are looking forward to cooperate with you, to achieve mutual benefit and a win-win situation.

Thank you!