Chongqing- Following the recent conclusion to the 2020 Smart China Expo Online 2020, the 15th annual meeting of the Mayor’s Advisory Group is here. Guests from around the world will hold cloud meetings in a banquet of smart technology, and add luster to the month of September in Chongqing.

The 15th annual meeting of Chongqing Mayor’s International Economic Advisory Group was opened in the Wudu Hotel. Senior executives from Fortune 500 companies and multinationals joined the cloud conference and provided advice and suggestions for the economic and social development of Chongqing.

15:30 local time in Chongqing was set for the meeting for the convenience of participating guests, located across Asia, Europe, and North America. They also clamored for the annual meeting to commence as scheduled, despite the breakout of COVID-19.

In March of this year, Koichi Miyata of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation stated how the 14th annual meeting of the Mayor’s Advisory Group was a great success, and that is has become a high-end platform for Chongqing to promote international exchange and cooperation.

Since the national response to the COVID-19 crisis was handled swiftly and appropriately in China, the economy has recovered quickly and is once again full of vitality. As a veteran of the advisory group, he continues to look upon the development prospects of Chongqing and China with great optimism. He wishes to put forward more opinions and suggestions in the hope organizers wouldn’t pull the plug on this meeting this year.

A previous suggestion from Koichi Miyata was for Chongqing to promote the electronic data interchange (EDI) for customs clearance through a unified platform for handling imports and exports, to improve efficiency in logistics.

On receipt of the advice, the Port Logistics Office researched the exchange of dynamic information for the customs status of shipping containers through a single international trade window between the two countries.

In fact, since the annual meetings of the mayors’ advisory group was first held, the advice of each advisor has been carefully recorded on an individual basis, so that these seeds of wisdom may take root and sprout in Chongqing.

Ke Ruidong, senior vice president of Ericsson Group, proposed that Chongqing should make full use of the Internet of Things to promote the digital transformation of traditional industry and manufacturing. Subsequently, this advice was adopted in the Implementation Plan for the Development of Smart Manufacturing in Chongqing (2019-2022), which proposed that the construction of three major functional systems for networks, platforms, and security be accelerated, in addition to digitalization and intelligent upgrades to create an industrial Internet ecosystem.

Deng Naijie, vice president of BP Group, suggested further policy support for hydrogen energy in strategic planning, subsidies, simplification of approval procedures, land permits, and tax breaks for new energy companies. Chongqing has adopted the proposal and plans to issue the Guiding Opinions on the Development of Chongqing Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Industry (Trial), covering development goals and safeguard measures. The document is currently available online to solicit opinions from the public.

On September 16 this year, Siemens Transportation signed a cooperation agreement with the Liangjiang New Area to deploy a 5G intelligent transportation Center, the only such facility in China. This decision reflects the importance of Siemens and its technology to Chongqing.

Zhang Zhikui, director of the Municipal Commission of Commerce, stated "The 14th Mayor’s Advisory Group Annual Meeting brought together many Fortune 500 companies and multinationals. They have not only witnessed and participated in the development of Chongqing but now also have a clearer understanding of the investment environment and development prospects in Chongqing."

Based on this fact, many consulting firms not only invest in Chongqing but even regard Chongqing as the focus of their global deployment.

Cummins is building a new high-power engine R&D center in Chongqing. Upon completion, this project will become their most advanced research and development base in China and a center of worldwide importance.

HP has continued to promote investment in Chongqing. The company has produced about 200 million notebook computers in Chongqing, contributing about 100 billion yuan in output value to the local economy every year, and thrusting the reputation of Chongqing as the most important notebook computer production bases in the world.

At the second CIIE last year, SAP signed a cooperation agreement with Chongqing to build the SAP Chongqing Intelligent Manufacturing Joint Innovation Center in Xiyong Free Trade Zone, the first innovation center they will have created in the west of China.

The annual meeting of the Mayor’s Advisory Group is also a major platform for sharing opportunities, and there have been signing events for agreements and cooperation during all previous annual meetings. For example, consultancy firms signed 33 investment projects with Chongqing in the 14th annual meeting, including many heavyweight benchmark projects.

Over the past two annual meetings, consultancy firms such as Jardine Group, AT&S, and FANUC have also implemented commercial projects in Chongqing to enhance investment and cooperation.