Quotable

"The real cost of building warehouses is going to be staggering."

Jeff Schwarz, cofounder of Global Logistic Properties Ltd, the biggest foreign builder of logistics facilities in China. By 2020, China's e-commerce sector will be larger than those of the United States, Britain, Japan, Germany and France combined, KPMG reported. To cope with this surge, as much as $2.5 trillion may need to be invested in land and warehouses over the next decade and a half.

"There will be many opportunities, especially for those who are well educated and have a grasp of one or more foreign languages and have rich experience."

Dong Lei, managing director at recruiter Lloyd Morgan Greater China. Hiring is increasing in the second quarter of this year as the central government focuses on growth driven by the service sector. A survey of 4,279 companies by global employment agency ManpowerGroup showed that about 19 percent of Chinese firms will increase staff numbers in the April-June period.

"Different economies can combine their individual plans with regional connectivity to boost cooperation."

Zhang Xiangchen, China's assistant minister of commerce, saying China's proposal for a multilateral bank to develop infrastructure projects in Asia received a "positive response" as the country called for a group of projects to boost regional connectivity. He said that China will advance the establishment of the bank, which should have "a very big influence on regional connectivity as financing is the most prominent bottleneck in infrastructure development".

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/16/2014 page18)