2013 Provincial Quest Programme Go back »

2013-12-02 | All chapters

Corresponding with China’s current administrative reforms and policy decentralisation, one of the Chamber’s government affairs highlights in 2013 was the official launch of the Provincial Quest Programme. With the aim of expanding local outreach and entering structured communication with sub-national governments, this programme brings business delegates close to strategically-important regions and seeks to improve the local business environment for foreign players. Within this framework, the Chamber delegation, led by President Cucino, met with Governor Lu Hao of Heilongjiang Province and identified a series of collaborative activities, particularly in the food and agricultural sectors. Other high-level, local counterparts that the Chamber met over the year, in chronological order, include:

1. Vice Governor Bing Zhigang, Liaoning Provincial Government;

2. Vice Mayor Huang Kai, Shenyang Municipal Government;

3. Vice Governors of the six central provinces (Henan, Hunan, Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hebei) at the Central China Expo;

4. Party Secretary Hu Chunhua, Guangdong Province;

5. Governor Li Qiang, Zhejiang Province;

6. Governor Nur Bekri, Vice Governor Shi Dagang and Secretary General Alimjan Memtimin, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region;

7. Mayor Song Xibin, Harbin Municipal Government;

8. Mayor Ji Jianye, Nanjing Municipal Government; and

9. Mayor Ge Honglin, Chengdu Municipal Government.

President Davide Cucino said that “we introduced our ‘Provincial Quest’ tours in 2013, an outreach initiative aimed at fostering engagement with individual Chinese provinces through dialogue with local governments and ministries. During our first ‘Provincial Quest’ in July 2013, I led a Chamber delegation to Heilongjiang Province where we met with the then newly-appointed governor, Lu Hao, who strongly encouraged further European investment in the province. The Chamber is proud of this outreach initiative and intends to develop the ‘Provincial Quest’ into a key event in our annual schedule.”