Understanding China's Development Zones Go back »

2006-06-30 | Shanghai

On Thursday, June 29th, the European Chamber in Shanghai held its second conference. ‘Understanding China’s Development Zones’ was aimed at companies seeking practical and up to date information about development zones in China. 

The full-day event was divided into three panels: Taxation, Operations and Human Resources. The conference found a balance between the speakers, who gave first-hand information on the practicalities of setting up in these zones, and the representatives of the Development Zones who showed what their zones could offer potential investors. This gave a comprehensive overview of development zones in China. 

After the opening remarks by Mr. Thomas Felber, General Manager of the European Chamber in Shanghai, the conference started with a general presentation by Mrs. Brigitte Wolff (Abacus Corporation) followed by the Taxation panel which provided accurate information regarding the tax situation of the development zones. Mrs. Gracie Xie (KPMG) and Mr. Titus von dem Bongart (PWC) focused on the taxation topics while Mr. Bob Fletcher (Deloitte) gave a presentation on customs.

The Operations panel, led by Mr. Marcus Wassmuth (LBBW), offered insights on how to set up a company in a development zone. Mr. Timothy Lamb (JLJ Group) and Mr. James Sinclair (InterChina Consulting) described the different steps a company should go through, particularly negotiation and registration. Mr. Matia Miao (InterChina Consulting) led the ensuing Q&A session while Mr. Hans-Jürgen Tetzlaff (Radio Frequency Systems) completed the panel with a case study providing his personal experience when setting up and expanding the company he manages.

The Human Resources panel, moderated by Mr. Hans Stremme (Fiducia) focused on crucial issues of recruiting and retaining qualified staff. Mrs. Jill Malila (Mercer) gave an overview on the status of Human Resources on the development zones basing her presentation on a recently released survey. To add a more ‘hands-on’ approach, Mrs. Jin Jia (Bosch) and Mr. Daniel Wang (Siemens) presented their companies’ policies giving relevant advice on how these experienced organisations have learned the best methods in managing human resources in the development zones.

The event was a clear success, speakers were concise and informative and the information available was extensive and accurate. The Chamber would like to thank all those involved and will continue to hold events on the essential topics that concern European industry in China.

'Understanding China’s Development Zones’ was kindly supported by Jiangsu Province Zhangjiagang Economic Development Zones, Hangzhou Economic & Technological Development Area, Ascendas, Changzhou National High-Tech Development Zone, Wuxi-Singapore Industrial park, Hangzhou Qianjiang Economic and Development Zone, Xiaoshan Economic and Technological Development Zone, Jiangsu Changshu SouthEast Development Zone and Qingdao Development Zone.