Jilin rolls out the red carpet for entrepreneurs

Old industrial capital rapidly transforming into thriving center for commercial excellence

To invigorate the new round development in Jilin, entrepreneurs from more than 200 listed companies worldwide gathered in Changchun, capital of the province, to seek cooperation opportunities in economic development and investment at a business event held from May 24-25.

Jing Junhai, governor of Jilin, said at the forum named "Hundreds of Listed Enterprises Come to Jilin" that his province was a good place to invest and start businesses, with broad prospects for growth and development.

He added that Jilin aimed to boost its rejuvenation through the province's opening-up and reform policy and build itself up as a first point of entry for the Northeast Asian region.

That aim needs the assistance of investing companies to bring advanced concepts and management models, Jing said.

During the event, the province's government, cities and companies signed contracts for 14 projects with some of the listed companies, worth 7.04 billion yuan ($1.1 billion).

These deals covered the automobile components sector, as well as the optoelectronic information, chemical engineering, medical, agricultural product processing and environmental protection sectors.

The modern service industry accounted for 50 percent of the projects while agricultural product processing was another key area of cooperation, according to the provincial government.

Officials said the projects would not only promote development, but also optimize and balance investment structures, in the process energizing the transformation and upgrading of Jilin's industrial base.

One of the beneficiaries - Northeast eHualu Information Technology Company - signed a contract with the Changchun Lianhuashan administrative committee to build a northeastern QR code reader equipment and comprehensive service center industrial base for 3 billion yuan of investment. It is one of the first QR code industrial facilities in China.

Another, Hangzhou Jinjiang Group, plans to invest 1.1 billion yuan to launch projects in the intelligent agricultural science and technology industry park in Songyuan city in Jilin.

Other companies that signed contracts in Jilin included Changzhou Meigao Plastics Company, Beijing Orient Landscape Company and Beijing Dabeinong Group.

Song Gang, director of the Jilin economic and technological cooperation bureau, said: "Jilin attracted lots of public companies and many of them signed up to participate in the event.

"We chose 203 enterprises, which are more closely associated with the industries of our province," Song said.

Jilin, as a center for traditional industry, has abundant natural resources and enjoys a good ecological environment, as well as rich science and education resources.

In recent years, the province has become an important window for the Belt and Road Initiative, developing strong northern sea routes to trading partners.

Increasingly, companies have realized the great development potential of Jilin.

Yin Jianbo, president of Great Harvest Maeta Group, returned to Jilin after 20 years and saw the rapid growth and numerous business opportunities during the event.

"Through the event, I felt the sincerity of Jilin in wanting to attract investment and the province has attached great importance to building a good business environment," he said.

"We will create more cooperation opportunities with Jilin to achieve win-win situations."

Guo Xinping, president of Beijing UniStrong Science and Technology Co, said he also was impressed with conditions in the province.

"The Jilin economic and technological cooperation bureau provides every entrepreneur with one-to-one service and secretarial service. I can feel that Jilin is changing."

Jilin province's cities and counties are included in China's Smart City pilot projects won a contract related to the construction of the Smart Jilin project. Officials from Liaoyuan city in Jilin province said they made careful preparations in order to capitalize on the great opportunity the business conference presented to attract investment.

"We carefully studied the participants in the event and every participating company from Liaoyuan targeted a public company and planed projects to cooperate with them, which led to fruitful results," said Cui Shiwei, director of the Liaoyuan economic cooperation bureau's investment office.

At six match-making events, public companies - together with Jilin's cities, development zones and enterprises - held deep discussions on the financial services sector, advanced manufacturing, new energy and materials, modern agriculture and other sectors.

Zhang Hang, investment director of Inner Mongolia Junzheng Energy and Chemical Industry Co, said that after communicating with Shuangliao Haohua Chemical Co and Changchun Airport Economic Development Zone, they identified many interesting projects.

The company will work with Jilin to fully exploit and utilize resources and the circular economy sectors in the future.

According to Jilin officials, a total of 123 projects were promoted during the matchmaking events.

The officials from the Jilin economic and technological cooperation bureau said that they would set up a service mechanism to coordinate and solve problems connected to the start and processing of the projects. In addition, the bureau will pay return visits to major companies and invite them to invest in Jilin again.

Contact the writers at caoyingying@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/08/2018 page10)