Meeting on International Urban Cooperation Project
2017-11-24 | Beijing
Chamber National Chair of Construction Working Group Mr Javier Lopez, welcomed the keynote speaker, Dr Shi Xin, Deputy Director for International Urban Cooperation Project (Asia) of European Union and made the opening remarks on Chamber’s attitude towards sustainable urbanisation, city-to-city cooperation and opportunities for foreign investment in China.
Dr Shi made the presentation on the International Urban Cooperation (IUC) program. As he pointed out, this program is being implemented with an aim to promoting cooperation on sustainable urban development among European and Chinese cities, which target multiple sectors and through various layers. It promotes the triple-helix methodology and encourage the participation of government, research institutions and companies to work together and identify concrete project opportunities. The main focal points of IUC project include transport and mobility, energy efficiency, high-end manufacturing, smart city, circular economy and environmental technologies. It works closely with Chinese cities and different economic or industrial zones, providing a platform for bridging the gap for European stakeholders coming to Chinese market, especially when dealing with local authorities. Seven Chinese cities have been selected for this project earlier this year, including Tianjin, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shantou, Changchun, Longyan. To facilitate this project, the local government of the above cities, under the guidance of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), are currently drafting opening-up and preferential policies for European companies in specific sectors, for instance, advanced manufacturing, big data, new energy vehicles, logistics, energy conservation, environmental protection, green and low carbon solutions and smart development.
A Q&A session was followed with a number of questions relating to local policies and incentive plans of the selected cities for foreign investment.