Tag: Twinning

Ohio-Hubei Partnership

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G1×7: Ohio, USA
Ohio ranks seventh in GDP among US States, and is positioned at the 1×7 slot within the G8x8.
G2×8: Hubei, China
Hubei ranks eighth in GDP among provinces of China, and is positioned at the 2×8 slot within the G8x8.

Amid rising trade tensions between China and the Trump administration, Chinese officials met with Ohio business leaders in Columbus on Wednesday for a business and policy luncheon.

The Greater Columbus Chinese Chamber of Commerce and JobsOhio organized the meeting, which was held at The Blackwell Inn, to discuss the business relationship between the U.S. and China.

Yumin Zhao, the Acting Consul General in New York, says they’re focused on collaboration in light of the escalating trade war with the U.S.

“The Chinese people did notice there are some differences compared to the past decades with the relationship between China and the United States,” Zhao says. “We do see it as a reflection of the average American people.”

He urged Americans and Chinese people to focus on how they can work together.

“We still think that only by cooperation we can overcome the difficulties. Not setting the barriers or lifting the tariffs and make the flow of people, flow of goods slower,” Zhao says. “That’s not our goal.”

Monica Xia, chair of the Greater Columbus Chinese Chamber of Commerce, says some Ohio businesses look to Hubei, China, for advancement in medicine and biotechnology.

“I think globalization cannot be stopped. I think that’s the message that we want our audience to take away,” Xia says. “Just let’s contribute positively to this globalization trend.”

Hubei, China, and Ohio have been sister provinces for almost 40 years.

Both of Ohio’s U.S. senators, and Gov. John Kasich, have raised concerns about the Trump administration’s trade policies. Ohio’s agricultural industry has been particularly hard hit by Chinese retaliation against soybeans and pork, though Trump has tried to offset some damages to farmers with subsidies.

Ohio exports $4 billion in agricultural goods to China every year.

Image and info source: http://radio.wosu.org/post/chinese-officials-discuss-trade-ohio-business-leaders

Tokyo

Tokyo – London Collaboration

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Yuriko Koike, Governor of Tokyo, and Charles Bowman, Lord Mayor of London, have signed and concluded the Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of London Corporation and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, on 4 December 2017. The Lord Mayor works closely with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, although they have distinct and separate responsibilities.

The two cities have a long history of collaboration across many sectors which have contributed to the economic development and prosperity in their respective countries and in the world. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG), which is the administrative body of the metro area, and the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO), are already working together on an agenda to revitalise Tokyo’s financial sector. The Financial Services sector is one of the key areas that continues to undergo transformation at an international level. In recognition of this the City of London Corporation (CoLC) and the TMG will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further deepen their exchange and collaboration in financial services, so that the two international financial centres can mutually prosper and grow. In addition, TheCityUK, as the industry body for UK-based financial and related professional services, has launched a Japan Market Advisory Group (MAG) of industry experts and is taking forward a programme to strengthen collaboration between financial and related professional services in the UK and Japan and this practitioner activity will complement cooperation between the two cities.

Collaboration Objectives

Working toward this goal, while the CoLC and TMG will deepen their examination of concrete actions, both parties hereby agree to commence consideration on their cooperation in the following
areas:

  • Cooperation in financial sector meetings, forums and information sharing between both cities.
  • Cooperation in building a wider alliance programme in the education sector.
  • Cooperation in developing and promoting Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) investment and green finance.
  • Cooperation in conducting promotional activities as international financial centres.

Tokyo has sister city relationships with many capitals of the world, including

  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Cairo
  • London
  • Moscow
  • New York
  • Paris
  • Rome
  • Seoul

Information Source: Tokyo Metropolitan Government

Image Source: Bureau of Port and Harbor, Tokyo Metropolitan Government

Tokyo and London are both G8x8 territories. The former is ranking first in GDP among Japanese prefectures, placing it at the 3×1 position. London ranks first among top level areas of the United Kingdom to take the 5×1 field on the board. Tokyo takes a share of 18.3% of the total GDP of Japan. London posted a GDP share of 22.7 percent of the UK national total.

6th China-India Forum

Karnataka – Sichuan Cooperation

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Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of the State of Karnataka, India, inaugurated the 6th China-India Forum on 10 November 2017 in Bengaluru. The meeting was jointly hosted by the Government of Karnataka, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), the China-India Friendship Association (CIFA), and Podar Enterprise. Semiconductor Alliance of China and Beijing Construction & Highway Development Group presented EoI letters to the Karnataka government. Forum slogan was “Innovation – Building Strong and Harmonious Future Together – Promoting Beautiful China & Wonderful India.”

Karnataka had signed a Sister-State-Province agreement with the Provincial Government of  Sichuan of the People’s Republic of China in May 2015, during the Forum of Leaders of the Regions of India and China in Beijing, and with participation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. At the China-India Forum 2017, however, other provinces of China were also invited. Podar Enterprise signed a strategic cooperation MoU with Hebei Provincial Government. Podar Advisory and Consulting Enterprise signed tri-party MoU of cooperation with Baoding City Government and Hebei Information Investment Group. Fortune Plus, China, signed MoU for setting up electric vehicle hub with Imperator Autocorp Pvt Ltd. Podar Holding International Pte Ltd signed MoU for cooperation in education with Yingcai University in Jinan, Shandong province.

All Chinese Investors Welcome

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah invited Chinese investors, saying the state is ready to receive them with open arms and promised the speedy implementation of projects. “India’s exports to China touched USD 8.86 billion, whereas China’s exports were USD 61.54 billion. I urge investors from China to invest in Karnataka,” he said at the inauguration of the 6th India-China Forum here.  India-China bilateral trade also had reached USD 70.4 billion in 2015, he added. “We will do everything possible to enable seamless conduct of business, with total transparency and with the assurance that your projects will be speedily implemented,” he said.

Karnataka government will continue to actively engage with China and explore all possible avenues to make them its valued partners in building of a strong and prosperous state, Siddaramaiah said. “It is just the beginning of identifying synergies in  technologies which would strengthen and deepen the foundation  of a Future-oriented Partnership between India and China and  Karnataka and China, evolving business ties, particularly in  defence, energy, infrastructure, agriculture and food processing, Information Technology and environment, to name a few,” he said.

Siddaramaiah said Karnataka’s Industrial Policy for 2014-19 was manufacturing centric with a vision is to make the state an innovative and hi-tech manufacturing hub of India. He said India and China’s relations had undergone an evolution in recent years developing along a positive track, into a friendly partnership. “It has made great strides in recent years and has become truly multi-dimensional, spurred by a significant convergence  of interests, mutual goodwill and high-level exchanges,” he  added.

Sources: The Deccan Chronicle, The Hindu BusinessLine

Image source: NDTV

Karnataka and Sichuan are both G8x8 territories. The former is ranking fourth in GDP among Indian states, placing it at the 7×4 position. Sichuan ranks sixth among Chinese provinces to take the 2×6 field on the board. In 2016, Karnataka took a share of 7.4% of the India total GDP. Sichuan posted a GDP share of 4.2 percent of the China national total.

New York

New York Promotes Guangxi

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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.

 

Shandong Bayern 30 Years

30 Years of Shandong – Bayern

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Shandong and Bavaria have been sister province and state for 30 years and achieved good results in various fields. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of their sister relations, minister-president of Bayern (Bavaria) Horst Seehofer visited the provincial capital Jinan. He met the provincial party secretary Liu Jiayi on 11 May 2017.

Liu welcomed the visit of Seehofer and his delegation. He said Shandong is a leading province in economy, culture and resources in China. Now it is stepping up efforts to transfer the old energy into the new one. Furthermore, it promotes supply-side structural reform to realize economic transformation and development. Bavaria is an economic powerhouse of Germany, also a highland of research and technology. So there is great potential for cooperation between the territories.

“I hope this anniversary will be a new start for both sides. We should deepen strategic cooperation, broaden investment scale and cooperative areas and strengthen project docking. This way we will achieve a win-win cooperation,” said Liu Jiayi.

“Both our economies are vigorous,” said Seehofer. “What impressed me deeply is the love of the people here for their homeland.” Seehofer said he wishes the final implementation of the cooperative projects and more substantial cooperative fruits to benefit the two peoples.

According to both sides, the meeting was productive. They achieved good progress in the cooperation, docking Germany’s “Industry 4.0” and China’s “Made in China 2025”.

The Speaker of Bavarian State Parliament Barbara Stamm and Shandong leaders Yu Xiaoming and Wang Shujian attended the meeting.

History of the Partnership

In 1985, then minister-president of Bavaria Franz Josef Strauss led a business delegation to Shandong. This marked a prelude to the friendly relationship between the two territories. Then vice governor Ma Shizhong and Strauss signed a joint declaration on developing sister province-state relations on 9 July 1987. They opened a new chapter of friendly exchange and cooperation between the two sides. In 2010, Shandong party chief Jiang Yikang and minister-president Seehofer signed an agreement on establishing a strategic partnership in Munich. This lifted the relation between the two parties to a new level.

By 2014, they developed a number of sister city and cooperative relations even between TV stations. They set up economic and trade representative offices in each other’s province and state. The Provincial People’s Congress signed an agreement with the State Parliament on a fixed exchange relation. Various branches of the government established relations and developed fruitful cooperation and exchanges in all fields.

Previous provincial leaders, including Liang Buting, Zhao Zhihao, and Jiang Chunyun, have led delegations to visit Bavaria. Franz Josef Strauss and Edmund Stoiber have visited Shandong in 1985, 1995 and 2003 successively. The precious two speakers of the State Parliament John Paume and Alos Guleck have also paid a visit to their partner province in 2000 and 2008. Horst Seehofer visited in April 2010.

Bavaria is one of the most powerful regions in economy that shares sister province-state relations with Shandong. Both sides valued the economic and trade cooperation at the beginning of their relationship. The Free State, largest and second populous in Germany, is source of one third of total German investment in Shandong. Bavaria has invested over 20 projects in the province, involving about one billion dollars as foreign capital.

Projects

The Bavarian state government provided great support by training 1200 talents in railway, aviation, finance, telecom, communication, and metereology. It also helped to complete these joint projects:

  • Beer Technical Center established at Shandong Polytechnic University
  • Telecom Technical Center established at Shandong Telecommunication School
  • Land Consolidation Village Renewal Project of Zhanglou Village in Qingzhou City completed in 1988
  • Weichai Vocational Training Center built in Weifang City in 1989
  • Dual System Agricultural Vocational Education Center built in Pingdu City in 1990
  • Vocational Teacher Training Center built in Qingzhou City in 1998
  • Sino-German Rural Development Research Center jointly established in 2003

All this could not be completed without the support and participation of various Bavaria partners:

  • Ministry of the Interior
  • Technical University of Munich
  • Ministry of Education and Culture, Science and Art
  • Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry
  • Dillingen Academy for Teacher Training
  • Hanns Seidel Foundation

The Bavarian state government invested over 10 million € for the construction of these projects. It also dispatched long-term and short-term experts, over 100 people in total.

The province and the free state achieved remarkable results in higher education. A number of universities established friendly interschool exchange relations. They conducted fruitful exchanges and activities.

The Shandong-Bavaria Educational Cooperation Programme Commission plays an important role in the educational cooperation between both sides. The  partners established this commission in 1993. In 2007, they even founded the Sino-German Center for Cooperation of Universities for the further all-around cooperation of universities of Shandong and Bavaria.

Image © dpa / Sven Hoppe. Information Source: www.shandong-bayern.com

Both Shandong and Bayern (Bavaria) belong to the G8x8, the most productive places on earth. Shandong ranks third among Chinese provinces, taking the 2×3 spot on the chessboard, and contributes 8.7 percent to the national GDP. Bayern ranks second among the German laender, is located on field 4×2, and produced 18.1 percent of the German GDP.

 

Rhône-Alpes and Pennsylvania reinforce their partnership

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The National Institute of the Applied Sciences (INSA) in Lyon and Penn State University have signed an partnership agreement which organizes student, researchers and expert exchanges as well as development of common programs leading to qualifications. Both plan on leading joint research and formation projects, and to participate in scientific events.

The partnership was signed in the presence of Jean-Jacques Queyranne, President of the Rhône-Alpes region (former minister), Clayton Stanger, Consul General of the United States in Lyon, Wilfred Muskens, Under-Secretary for International Development, State of Pennsylvania, Pr. Amr Elnashai, Dean of Penn-State Engineering, and Eric Maurincomme, Director of INSA Lyon.

For this occasion, numerous events about economy, culture, tourism, higher education and research, combining “Rhônalpins” actors and the american community installed in the region, were organised.

Since 2006, Rhône-Alpes and Pennsylvania are engaged in a unique cooperation, the Region being in fact the only one in France, to be partners of an american federated state. These links lead to a closer relations in the economic, research, tourism and culture domains and will allow Pennsylvania to participate in the world-wide summit on climate and territories on the 1st and 2nd of July in the Regional Council..

Image and information source: https://www.france-science.org/Rhone-Alpes-and-Pennsylvania.html

Sichuan NRW Twinning

Silk Road to NRW

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Sichuan party secretary Wang Dongming and Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) minister president Hannelore Kraft participated in the official inauguration of a new NRW China Project Office in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. NRW economics minister Garrelt Duin pointed out that China is currently one of the leading investors worldwide, and that Chinese enterprises get more and more engaged in Europe. In foreign direct investment of Chinese enterprises, NRW ranks first among the 16 German laender. “Sichuan is our partner province and one of the most important locations for hi-tech, chemicals, and logistics in China,” said Duin. “Meanwhile, NRW is now the most desired location in Germany and a bridge to Europe for Chinese enterprises. We hope to welcome even more companies in the future, especially from Sichuan province.”

According to Petra Wassner, CEO of the NRW investment promotion agency, more than 850 Chinese enterprises already set up branches there. “This includes well-known corporations such as Donghua, Genertec, Hisense, Huawei, Lenovo, Lingyun, Minmetals, Sany, Shanggong, Wisco, and Wolong. Just last year, 79 firms from China newly established a business here.”

The Chengdu office aims at intensifying direct contacts with local associations, institutions, and the political community, in order to better inform them about the strength of NRW as a business location. It will provide individual services to potential investors of all sectors: market information, investment conditions, and practical assistance with setting up a business. Sichuan and NRW are directly connected by rail. This “New Silk Road” is a major part of China’s new long-term development strategy, also known as the “Belt and Road Initiative”.

Sichuan ranks 6th in GDP among Chinese provinces and occupies the 2×6 field on the G8x8 chessboard. Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) ranks first in GDP among German states and occupies the 4×1 field on the board. Sichuan contributed 4.2 percent to the national GDP of China, NRW contributed 21.4 percent to the national GDP of Germany. To compare province and state with countries, Sichuan exceeded Thailand (world GDP rank 26), NRW exceeded Switzerland (20) and Saudi-Arabia (21).

 

California Osaka 2013

California – Osaka Partnership

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Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. met with Osaka Governor Ichiro Matsui in Sacramento, to sign a memorandum of understanding to further strengthen California’s relationship with its sister-state in Japan. The leaders discussed trade, investment, tourism and education and cultural exchanges between California and Osaka Prefecture. They also shared their commitment to combating climate change. Full text:

Memorandum of Understanding On Friendly Exchanges and Cooperation Between The State of California, United States of America And Osaka Prefecture, Japan

At the invitation of Mr. Edmund G. Brown Jr., Governor of California, Mr. Ichiro Matsui, Governor of Osaka Prefecture, led an official delegation to visit Sacramento, California on June 11, 2013. During this visit, Governor Matsui and Governor Brown held friendly talks and reviewed the cooperation between the two sides since the establishment of the sister-state relationship in 1994. Both agreed that Osaka Prefecture and California are economically complementary and that there exists significant potential to advance and strengthen economic and social ties.

California has the highest Gross State Product in the United States of America and is the ninth largest economy in the world. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8.8 million and is the 29th largest economy in the world. Accordingly, both governments agree:

  1. To support and encourage economic and trade cooperation between California and Osaka Prefecture in the following key areas:
    • clean energy
    • environmental protection
    • information technology
    • bio-tech
    • manufacturing
    • tourism
  2. To support and encourage cooperation on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting low carbon development.
  3. To support and encourage their people and governments to further develop interpersonal contacts and exchanges, and to promote mutual understanding and friendship.
  4. To promote exchange programs between universities and other educational institutions.
  5. That California will designate the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development and that Osaka Prefecture will designate the International Affairs Division to coordinate trade and investment relations between Osaka Prefecture and California.

This Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Sacramento on June 11th, 2013 in the languages of English and Japanese in duplicate, each party holding one; both texts being equally authentic.

Information Source and Photo Credit: Justin Short, Office of the Governor.

California and Osaka are both G8x8 territories. The former is ranking first in GDP among US states, placing it at the 1×1 pole position. Osaka ranks second among Japanese prefectures to take the 3×2 field on the board. In 2016, California took a share of 14.1% of the USA total GDP. This was worth $2.6 trillion US Dollars, just as much as the GDP of the United Kingdom (ranking 5th among countries). Osaka posted a GDP share of 7.3 percent of Japan’s national total.