Chongqing - More than 200 guests, coming from Fortune 500 companies, multinational companies, international organizations, and business associations, as well as well-known enterprises and financial institutions, participated in the "Invest in China" Western Region Special Promotion Event, a signature event of the Fifth Western China International Fair for Investment and Trade (WCIFIT), in Chongqing on May 17.

The event also brought together representatives from 12 provinces, autonomous regions, and the municipality in western China, aiming to attract foreign investment and build a platform for investment cooperation to promote the development of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC).

For instance, Chongqing's Yuzhong District has reached preliminary cooperation intentions with companies from Japan and other countries in the logistics supply chain, consumer finance, and new energy, and both parties have decided to refine the cooperation matters further.

Leading the British business community to visit Chongqing soon

According to the China-UK Business Development Centre (CUKBDC), this event enables them to be aware of the enormous potential of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle and understand the investment opportunities in Chongqing and the entire western region. 

Chongqing has all 31 categories of China's manufacturing sector, a complete industrial system bursting with innovation vitality. It has always been an important destination for foreign-funded enterprises to invest in China.

As a professional consulting service organization across China and the UK, the CUKBDC will pass on the information learned to the British business community and looks forward to leading the British business community to visit Chongqing soon.

Jiang Haofang, President of the CUKBDC in China, said, "We believe it is a structural complementation in many fields that western China and multinational companies, particularly UK companies, could co-work more, including industrial services, tools, and application tech, which will be key for developing the markets."

According to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), the group has been doing business in China since the 1990s. Several cooperations have been conducted with leading domestic and non-financial institutions, governments, and universities in China.

LSEG hopes to better serve the Chinese market and Chinese customers by helping to build a data ecosystem. 

As a first-class company in global financial market infrastructure and financial data, LSEG combines financial analysis capabilities with the group's deep professional infrastructure in primary and secondary markets, seamlessly connecting them and enabling domestic clients to benefit from a complete global capital market value chain.

China has also cultivated a multi-level capital market system, promoting the bond market and stock financing as financing channels for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The London Stock Exchange can attract more global investors to support Chinese financial technology companies to connect to the international capital market through the interconnection mechanism.

Foreign investors target inland talent-intensive industries 

Li Ye, President of the China Chapter of the American Academy of Project Management (AAPM), said that the new energy industry in China's western region, such as solar and wind power, holds significant potential. 

Li added as industries continue to shift from coastal areas to inland regions, foreign investors can gradually shift their focus to talent-intensive industries in the inland areas, such as digital technology, intelligent machinery, green and low-carbon initiatives, and biotechnology.

"We are committed to bringing innovative industrial gas solutions to China and Chongqing," said Feng Yan, vice president of Air Products & Chemicals, Inc., an American international corporation whose principal business is selling gases and chemicals for industrial uses. "We continue to invest in promoting the integrated supply of industrial parks and the high-quality development of the entire hydrogen energy industry chain."

Through visiting Chongqing Central Business District, Changan Automobile Global R&D Center, Liangjiang Collaborative Innovation Zone, Western (Chongqing) Science City, Xiyong Comprehensive Bonded Zone, and other places, the multinational companies explored new opportunities for win-win development of industrial cooperation in Chongqing's opening-up platforms.

The event also attracted more than 20 companies from Thailand and the Philippines to explore new opportunities for cooperation in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and the ILSTC.