By Yuling Chen,  Yiling Wang, Mikkel Larsen,  iChongqing News

Chongqing- On May 16, 2019, on the Asia300 Global Business Forum Chongqing Summit, 300 Asia’s leading business and political leaders gathered in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality and shared their views on the Summit’s theme--Towards an Open Asian Economic Area: The Potential of Closer Partnerships, and talked about new business opportunities.

“A historic opportunity for Chang’an to become a world-class automobile enterprise”

Taking advantage of the unique location advantages in recent years, Chongqing enterprises are actively integrating into the Belt and Road Initiative to explore emerging markets. Chang’an Automobile is one of the typical representative enterprises in that regard. It is worth mentioning that Chang’an Automobile is also the only company in Chongqing that has been listed for Asia300.

Tan Benhong, Vice President of Chang’an Automobile based in Chongqing said, “The Belt and Road Initiative is an unprecedented opportunity for the development, growth, and long-term development of Chang’an Automobile.” In the new area, the Chinese market opens further and integrates deeply into the global economic system.

He added, “It is also a historic opportunity for Chang’an to become a world-class automobile enterprise.”

Based on the Belt and Road Initiative, Chang’an Automobile, actively integrates international and domestic resources and develops global industrial layout. The automobile company based in Chongqing has 15 bases, mostly countries along the Belt and Road, and sold vehicles to 41 countries in 2018. In the same year, it exported 440,000 vehicles in 2018, and 60% of them were to Belt and Road countries. 

For example, Chang’an Automobile has established KD factories or joint venture production bases in Russia, Pakistan, Vietnam, Egypt, Nigeria, and other countries. While exporting high-quality products and technologies from China, it has fully boosted local employment and promoted local industry and economic development.

“AirAsia will be seeking to support the infrastructure along the Belt and Road”

“AirAsia is an airline? Is it a tool to transport people to their destination? I agree more that we are a 'bridge' and set up a bridge between countries,” said Tassapon Bijleveld, Executive Chairman of Asia Aviation Plc. and Thai AirAsia CEO of AirAsia China and Indochina.

He introduced that AirAsia has operational control centers in 9 countries, 24 hubs, flights to 23 countries and 144 destinations. Among them, there are more than 20 destinations in China.

Tassapon Bijleveld said that China has proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, which can play a role in various fields for airlines such as AirAsia. In his view, because the Belt and Road has links countries, there is a lot of work to be carried out through the airport.

 “AirAsia will be seeking to support the infrastructure along the Belt and Road, connecting China to cities all along with expanding service to Europe later this year or early next year. We have a vision of becoming a digital airline and will be using the data to help customers to travel with ease.”

In the end, he said that he will continue to cooperate with China, cooperate with the people of Southeast Asian countries, continue to open new routes, promote the construction of the“Belt and Road Initiative” and promote the development of the tourism economy.

“ AI technology has been used to change the duration of traffic lights”

The world is undergoing a new economic trend of the "fourth industrial revolution", which involves big data sharing, such as AI, robotics, and IoT.

 The emergence of all economic phenomena has created a new situation and brought great opportunities. For example, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, etc., all use artificial intelligence and big data to become successful companies and are well known.

In this context, how should countries meet the opportunities and challenges they face?

Heizo Takenaka, Former Minister of Economic and Financial Policy, said that China set up an economic development zone to do some experiments, allowing companies in the region to carry out more innovative models. He also noted that ways to build a supercity in Japan are a hot topic. Relevant experiences can be learned from practices in China, for example, shared big data in Chongqing for improving city management.

“In some cities in China, AI technology has been used to change the duration of traffic lights and reduce congestion in the city by 20%,” said Heizo Takenaka.

“Big data can not only promote the development of enterprises in one’s own country, but also allow other countries to share some data, and optimize many models," he added.

At present, many companies and countries have reservations about the sharing of big data because of the protection of individual privacy. However, he said that for the development of the country and for the development of the world, it is necessary to work together.

 

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