The 2021 Jiangsu Government Dialogue and Europe Day Celebration was held on June 16 in Nanjing. Hengtong Group had the privilege of being invited to deliver a speech as the only representative of Jiangsu companies investing in the EU.

Hosted by the Chamber’s Nanjing Board and Jiangsu Department of Commerce jointly, and chaired by Dr. Andreas Risch, Chairman of the European Chamber Nanjing Board, the dialogue was graced by Mr. Tim Harrington, Deputy Head of EU Delegation to China, Mr. Sun Jin, Deputy Director General of Jiangsu Department of Commerce, Mr. Mario Quina, Consul for Economic and Commercial Affairs of the Portuguese Consulate General in Shanghai.

In his speech, Harrington shared the outcomes and challenges of EU-China business cooperation in 2020. Despite the pandemic, EU countries invested in 46 projects in Jiangsu last year, making Jiangsu’s total EU-paid-in investment register $ 20 billion since 2015, the second largest only after that of Shanghai.

Mr. Sun Jin then delivered a speech, in which he shared an optimistic outlook on the China-EU cooperation in the 14th five-year plan period.

Over 100 representatives from the European Chamber members, different departments of the Jiangsu Government, Jiangsu local companies and so on attended the dialogue. Together they discussed issues of common concerns, namely:

-Environmental compliance and future strategy under the goal of carbon neutrality

-Safe production, operation and management of the European business

-Optimizing the business environment

Bruce Chen, VP for International Cooperation of Hengtong International Business Group, in his speech “Contribute to the China-EU relations with win-win cooperation and green development”, shared the achievements of Hengtong as a private company in the EU and his understanding of Hengtong’s good practice and plans in Europe. In the end, he displayed a video on Hengtong’s WindFloat Atlantic Power Export Project in Portugal, which highlighted the China-EU pragmatic cooperation, as pointed out by Risch.

Bruce also took an interview with the Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporate (JSBC) International Channel and shared his views on the dialogue and Hengtong’s plan in Jiangsu and Europe.

With the aim of developing the business environment in Jiangsu, the dialogue has become a platform for Jiangsu Government and the European Chamber to discuss issues of common concerns on a regular yearly basis. A European Chamber Business Confidence Survey will be released and presented yearly on each dialogue. According to this year’s survey, 68% EU companies in China reported optimistic toward further growth in their business in the future, a 20% rise in comparison with last year.