Sichuan Economy and Trade Trends

Monthly, May 2015

Published by CCPIT Sichuan Council

Contents

Macro Economy

Sichuan, Now the Largest Clean Energy Base Nationwide to Drive the Green Power Industrial Development

Sichuan boasts more than 20% of the nationwide shale gas reserves, ranking at the top inChina. It also has abundant hydropower resources, a better renowned clean energy source.

Last year, the installed capacity of hydropower in Sichuan increased by 17% from the previous year to 61.7 million KW, sitting at first place nationwide. According to related data, the installed capacity of hydropower in Sichuan totaled above 80% of installed electricity capacity across the province. Sichuan is regarded as the largest natural gas production base nationwide presently and the prospective reserve of natural gas there now reaches about 7.2 trillion m³.

In addition, positive efforts have been made to construct solar photovoltaic industrial bases in Panzhihua and Xichang, wind power generation bases in Ganzi, A’ba and Liangshan prefectures and wellhead gas power generation bases in main natural gas producing areas. Up until the end of last year, Sichuan hydropower, photovoltaic & solar energy, natural gas and other clean energies achieved rapid development. Non-fossil energies consumption rose above 36% of total energies consumed in Sichuan, 25 percentage points higher than the national average level.

Driven by the considerable size of clean energy in Sichuan, a series of traditional industries have picked up.

Such trends became noticeable early in the first quarter, when the added value of oil and natural gas utilization in Sichuan gained a year-on-year increase of 37.6%. Electricity and heat production as well as supply industries grew the most quickly among industries above designated size in Sichuan since the second half of last year and still maintained rapid development during the first two months of this year, turning into the most important contributor to overall industrial profits of Sichuan. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 12^th by Dong Shimei and Xiong Xiaowei)

The Added Value of Industries above Designated Size Gained YoY Increase of 7.9% in First Four Months 2015

On May 15^th, Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Statistics announced the key national economic indicators in the first four months of Sichuan to the public. According to their statement, industries above designated size were growing at a stable pace with a year-on-year increase of 7.9%, with a growth rate 1.7 percentage points higher than the national average.

During the above-mentioned period, the growth rate regarding the added value of industries above the designated size in Sichuan saw a slight decline (0.1 percentage points lower than the first quarter), smaller than the nationwide average fall (0.2 percentage points lower).

31 out of 41 large-scale industries achieved growth in added value. Some traditional industries maintained a recovery increase, covering liquor, drinks and refined tea producing industries whose added value rose by 15.4% and the non-metallic minerals producing industry whose added value climbed by 23.7%. Auto and computer manufacturing industries achieved a year-on-year rise of 4.4% while a fall of 0.4% was seen in communications and other electronic equipment manufacturing industries.

Products output in main industries have seen an increasing pace. There was an increase of 3.8% in generated energy, 9.1% in natural gas, 32.5% in chemical pesticides, 5.6% in liquor, 12.8% in automobiles and 0.8% in cement.

When it comes to investment, during the first four months, total investment in fixed assets of Sichuan reached RMB 756.04 billion, with a year-on-year rise of 10.2%, including investment in fixed assets (excluding poor households) of RMB 726.01 billion which grew by 10.7%. Primary and tertiary industries both gained a big increase of 32.2% and 16.1% respectively while secondary industries underwent a fall of 2.9%. Paid-in investment reached RMB 890.59 billion in the first four months, with a year-on-year rise of 5.9%, including the increased national budget, domestic loans, self-raised funds and other funds and the available foreign funds with a decline of 28.4%.

Thanks to a series of preferential policies on housing funds, credits & loans and taxes, investment in real estate during the first four months totaled RMB 138.46 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 14.3%; the area of commercial residential buildings sold came to 18.582 million m², rising by 2.0%.

Climbing consumption power: total retail sales of consumer goods came to RMB 426.41 billion during the first four months, gaining a year-on-year increase of 11.7%, with the growth rate 1.3 percentage points higher than the national average. There was a quite big rise in consumer goods sold in urban and rural areas, with total retail sales in the former area getting a year-on-year increase of 11.5% and that in the later area rising by 12.7%. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 17^th by Dong Shimei)

Investment in Technical Reform Gained YoY Increase of 6.5% in First Four Months of 2015

Investment in technical reform accumulated to RMB 154.3 billion during the first four months in Sichuan, with a year-on-year increase of 6.5%, 0.4 percentage points higher than the first quarter.

Among the 10 cities and prefectures with increasing industrial investment, there was a double-digit rise in industrial investment in Bazhong and Ya’an. As for the 21 cities and prefectures across the province, investment in technical reform in Ganzi gained the most (a year-on-year growth of 243.1%), followed by Bazhong and Ya’an, 70.2% and 59.6% respectively. In contrast, there was negative growth in terms of investment in technical reform in 8 cities and prefectures.

Newly-commenced technical reform projects totaled 1,313, rising by 20.2%. The total planned investment amount gained a year-on-year increase of 11.3% while investment as to single project experienced a fall of RMB 6.21 million.

Investment in technical reform generally consisted of self-raised funds from enterprises while bank loans were reduced. As to paid-in investment, self-raised funds from enterprises achieved a year-on-year increase of 6.8%, 0.6 percentage points higher compared to that during the same period last year. Domestic loans available accounted for 3.5%, with a year-on-year fall of 1.6 percentage points. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 24^th by Dong Shimei)

Foreign Trade

Chengdu Offered Direct Flights to Moscow Beginning on May 2^nd

Sichuan Airlines started offering flights from Chengdu to Moscow, three every week. The flight generally departs at 15:00 from Chengdu and arrives at Moscow at 18:25 (local time), again departs at 20:20 (local time) from Moscow and arrives at Chengdu at 10:00 the next day (Beijing Time). (Time difference between Beijing and Moscow is 5 hours)

With this flight, available flights to international areas that operate out of Chengdu Shuangliu  International Airport now amount to 71 and international flights come to 82. Before Chengdu offered direct flights to Amsterdam, London and Frankfurt, with a flight time of 11, 10 and 9 hours respectively. The flight from Chengdu to Moscow reduced the flight time between Sichuan and Europe to 8 hours and 25 minutes, the most competitive advantage of Chengdu compared to other domestic big cities. Thanks to this flight, there will be more and more passengers heading to Chengdu for transit, thus consolidating its status as the aviation hub in central and westChina.

Related data indicated thatChinahas becomeRussia’s largest trading partner, and Chinese tourists traveling toRussiatook up the biggest share of foreign visitors. According to Yan Yuhua, Russian tourists benefited from the 72-hour visa-free transit policy can fly and have a brief lay-over in Chengdu before heading to Melbourne, Phuket, Sanya and other hot tourism destinations. Domestic tourists can also take this flight and travel toRussiaand head to north and east Europe for a visit or business trip. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 3^rd by Wang Meiling)

Twin-city Relationship Established between Chengdu and Lodz

On April 27^th, proposals were deliberated and approved at the 15^th session of 16^th Standing Committee of the Chengdu People's Congress, about establishing twin-city relationship between Chengdu and Poland Lodz.

Lodz is located in centralPoland, the capital of Lodz Province, the third largest city inPoland, with a total population of about 850,000. As the city on the terminal station of Chengdu-Europe Express Railway, Lodz is an important transportation hub and logistics center inPolandand owns the largest inland containers port in the area. It is also an important education and scientific center where abundant educational resources exist as well as the best university of science and engineering and academy of medicine inPoland.

Since the “Chengdu-Europe Express Railway” was put into operation in 2013, Chengdu and Lodz carried out all-around practical cooperation covering economy & trade, education and logistics. In November of last year, Marek Cieślak – the first deputy mayor of Lodz sent a letter to Foreign Affairs Office, Chengdu  Municipality in the hopes of establishing a twin-city relationship.

Chengdu and Lodz, in a twin-city relationship, will carry out all-around and multi-respect exchanges and cooperation covering economy & trade, culture & education and tourism. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 4^th by Jiang Junfang)

Made in Deyang Power Generation Equipment Exported toEgypt

The first batch of equipment (valued at RMB 3.15 million), whose design and manufacturing involved Dongfang Boiler Group Co., Ltd., for the feedwater heater section of Egypt’s SUEZ Thermal Power Plant 1×650MW Oil & Gas Engine Unit Project, had passed its one-hundred-point inspection and has been approved to be shipped, marking the first export of Made in Deyang power generation equipment to Egypt.

It was a national key energy project to provide heaters for the Egypt SUEZ Thermal Power Plant along the Silk Road economic belt, whose credit funds were provided by the ADB (African Development Bank) to the government ofEgyptand implementation was undertaken by EEHC under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy of Egypt.

Power generation equipment output in Deyang ranks first in the world, ever exported to multiple countries in Asia, Europe and America. The above-mentioned export event laid a solid foundation for further cooperation betweenChinaandEgyptand will surely help Deyang energy equipment manufacturing industry to take a big step ahead under the backdrop of the One Belt One Road. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 6^th by Wang Yuxi)

Poland to Establish a Consulate-general in Chengdu

RecentlyChinaandPolandhad agreed on establishingPoland’s Consulate-general in Chengdu through amicable negotiations. It would bePoland’s third Consulate-general in the Chinese mainland, with its consular districts covering Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Chongqing. On top of that, the number of embassies of foreign countries in Chengdu would reach 13.

Poland is one of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe that Sichuan placed under great emphasis in partnering with and is also Sichuan’s biggest partner regarding economy and trade in Central and Eastern  Europe. There were already over 300 enterprises in Sichuan cooperating withPoland. Along with the operation of the Chengdu-Europe Express Railway, a closer partnership will be seen between Sichuan andPoland. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 8^th by Liu Miaomiao)

Chengdu and the Empire's Dairy  Capital Are  Now Sister  Cities

On May 6^th (New Zealand local time), the representatives from Chengdu People’s Government on a visit Hamilton along with Julie Hardaker– the mayor of Hamilton signed an agreement to build a twin-city relationship. Once the relationship was established, practical cooperation would be carried out in respect to covering modern agriculture and animal husbandry, education, culture, tourism, personnel exchanges and hi-tech research. Representative offices of respective non-government institutions would be encouraged to develop in the counterpart’s area.

Hamilton, located at North  Island,New Zealand, the capital and economic center of Waikato, covers an area of 98 km² and has a population of about 150,000, the fourth largest city and the largest inland city inNew Zealand. It is regarded as a key highway and railway transportation hub, the farming industrial center as well as a world-class agriculture and animal husbandry center, reputed as The Empire's Dairy Capital. The New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays, the largest agribusiness exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere, is held in the city every June. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 8^th by Liu Miaomiao)

Chengdu-New Zealand VAC Opened

Chengdu-New Zealand VAC (Visa Application  Center) opened officially on April 24^th. It is the fifth VAC ofNew  Zealandestablished inChina, after the ones in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. People in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Chongqing are allowed to deliver applications for visitor visas, student visas, work visas and immigrant visas to this Center, without the red tape that requires anyone to apply at the Center in Beijing. This Center in Chengdu will send applicants’ documents to Beijing or Shanghai, which will be examined by officials of the New Zealand Immigration Service.

According to Nina He– General Manager of visa services at New Zealand Immigration Service, it generally takes about 10 working days for people to receive results after they submit their applications, but she recommended people to apply at least 20 days in advance for their visas. She said the passing rate of visa applications inChinawas quite high and about 94% applicants received visas. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 9^th by Liu Miaomiao)

India to Establish Consulate General in Chengdu

According to the Joint Statement between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of India launched on the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC on May 15^th, in order to facilitate and promote greater cultural, tourism, economic and people-to-people engagement between the two countries, an additional Consulate General would be established in each other's country.Chinawould open a new Consulate General in Chennai, whileIndiawould open a new Consulate General in Chengdu.

In addition toPoland’s Consulate General being built in Chengdu as agreed through amicable negotiations andIndia’s Consulate General to be established here, the number of embassies of foreign countries in Chengdu is expected to be 14. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 16 by Liu Miaomiao)

New Zealand-China Business and Trade Association Inc. Established Its Offices in Chengdu

On May 15^th, the Chengdu offices of the New Zealand-China Business and Trade Association Inc. opened. It is intended for helping Sichuan enterprises in international exchange, commerce & trade promotions and providing useful information about international trends and commercial events to companies and trade partners, acting as a bridge betweenNew Zealandand Sichuan for better economic cooperation and cultural exchange.

On that day, the New Zealand-China Business and Trade Association Inc. along with the Sichuan Association of Senior Services signed the Memorandum of Cooperation, in the hope of more exchanges and cooperation in respect to senior services. The two countries agreed on enhancing mutual visits and information exchanges between senior services professionals, arranging program investigations and cooperation as well as organizing tourism, cultural & arts and sports activities involving the elderly in the two countries for deeper understanding. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 16^th by Hao Yong)

Sichuan Signed Cooperation Agreements withBelarusGomel

On May 21^st, Gan Lin – the Deputy Governor of Sichuan led a delegation to visit Belarus and signed the Agreement of Cooperation between PRC Sichuan and the Republic of Byelorussia Gomel with Vladimir Dvornik – the President of the Ｅxecutive Committee of Gomel, hoping for further cooperation.

Gomel, the capital and second largest city, is located in southeastBelarus. According to Gan Lin, culture and industrial structures in Sichuan and Gomel were quite complementary. Extensive cooperation was expected in mechanical manufacturing, metal processing, chemical fibers, paper pulp, dairy & meat products and culture to achieve a mutually beneficial future. During the visit toBelarus, Gan Lin took his presence at China-Belarus Local Economic & Trade Cooperation Forum and made a speech on behalf of Sichuan province. Sichuan-Gomel Exchange Conference was held in Minsk, the capital ofBelarus, attended by over 20 enterprises from Sichuan. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 22^nd by Liu Miaomiao)

Sichuan Enterprises Signed Agreements Valuing USD 10 Mln with European Counterparts

Sichuan enterprises actively took part in the 2015 Italy Milan International Food Fair & European Economic Trade Promotion Event, a quite important part of the Ten Thousand Enterprises Going Abroad program, during which 18 agreements of intent were reached among 14 Sichuan enterprises, with the contracted amount totaling USD 10 million.

During the event, 63 Sichuan SMEs from Chengdu, Liangshan and 10 other cities and prefectures attended 12 economic trade negotiations and exchange events. Trade or investment agreements were reached between Sichuan enterprises dedicated to liquor, meat, sugar and other foods as well as catering. The Chengdu Catering Enterprises Association and the Chengdu Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export organized over 20 catering enterprises to be present. The Chengdu Catering Enterprises Association has established a good international partnership with the Italian Restaurant & Catering Association and the two countries will occasionally send cooks to each other to teach cooking techniques. It also has arranged for its members and members of the Paris Chinese Merchants Association to open Sichuan cuisine restaurants in major cities in Europe through the use of crowd-funding. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 26^th by Luo Yunfei and Zeng Xiaoqing)

Key Projects

National-level Olea  Europalea Trading  Logistics Center Built in Kaijiang

The Dazhou Government officially reached cooperative intent with the city of Rafina inGreeceto jointly-build a Chinese Olea  Europalea Trading  Logistics Center in Kaijiang. The preliminary planning shows that the center will occupy an area of more than 20,000m² and the total investment amount is expected to be around RMB 140 million.

Dazhou is an important city producing and processing woody oil plants in Sichuan, possessing an olea europalea planting base of 83,000 mu, olea europalea seed tree resource base of more than 800 mu, nursery garden of 100 mu and demonstration park of agricultural science and technology of 1,000 mu. With a fresh olea europalea capacity of 2,300 tons and an annual olive oil capacity of 300 tons, Kaijiang owns the ability to produce and process Olive leaf cosmetics and canarium album wine products and an industrial chain from sapling growing to production and processing has taken its first steps in Kaijiang. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 19^th by Wang Chengdong)

Comprehensive Construction on Chengdu-Ya’an Railway Launched

All work has gone smoothly since construction on the Chengdu-Ya’an Railway began. More than half of the 12 controlling works along the whole line have started construction. Recently, the rest of the controlling works except Ya’an station yard will enter into substantial construction stages and the comprehensive construction of Chengdu-Ya’an Railway has been launched.

Chengdu-Ya’an Railway starts in Chengdu’s Pujiang County, connects with the Chengdu-Pujiang (Chaoyang Lake) Railway under construction, advances westward to Yucheng District, passing through Mingshan  County. The designed length of the entire line is about 42 km and most of the line is located in Ya’an. In accordance with design standards of the Chengdu-Ya’an Railway, the total length of the Chengdu-Ya'an Railway is about 140 km, almost the same as the length of the Chengdu-Ya’an Expressway. The traveling speed of the train is designed to be between 160km/h (from Ya’an to Chaoyang Lake in Pujiang) and 200km/h (from Chaoyang Lake in Pujiang to Chengdu), faster than the driving speed of an automobile. It will take no longer than one hour from Ya’an Railway Station to Chengdu Railway Station by train. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 26^th by Zhou Kun and You Fei)

Industries

Quarter I Newly-registered Enterprises in Chengdu Gaoxin District with YoY Growth of 98.71%

Under the promotion of multiple measures for reformation and innovation and policies supporting innovation entrepreneurship, newly-registered enterprises in Chengdu Gaoxin District grew to 3,227 in the 1^st quarter of this year, with a year-on-year growth of 98.71%.

In addition to the almost doubled number of newly-registered enterprises, registered capital (funds) increased by RMB 12.094 billion in the 1^st quarter with an average registered capital (funds) per household reaching RMB 3.748 million. Among the newly-registered enterprises, science-and-technology enterprises grew to 1,408, accounting for 43.7% of the total number of the newly-registered enterprises. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 5^th by Zhang Lan)

PwC Established Its Branch Office in Chengdu

On May 6^th, PwC officially established its branch office in Chengdu. As of now, there are four internationally renowned accounting firms including PwC, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG and EY that have set up shop in Sichuan. PwC thinks highly of the advantageous central position and the large economy of Sichuan in the southwest region. Among the Global Top 500 enterprises, more than 400 are clients of PwC. In Sichuan, PwC has over 100 corporate customers, half of them transnational enterprises, including branches of Fortune Global 500 enterprises in Sichuan, and the other half local enterprises in Sichuan. PwC offers financing, capital operation, merger & acquisition, listing and other services to all enterprises in Sichuan. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 7^th by Li Longjun)

The Most Advanced 6G LTPS/AMOLED Production Line Project of Chengdu BOE with Total Investment of RMB 22 Bln to Begin in Chengdu

On May 8^th, the 6G (6^th generation) LTPS/AMOLED Production Line Project of Chengdu BOE with a total invested amount of RMB 22 billion will begin in the Western Zone of Chengdu’s Hi-tech Zone. This is the 2^nd semiconductor display production line of BOE carried out in Chengdu. BOE will make an internationally competitive high-performance display product production line and Chengdu will take this opportunity to build the most influential electro-optic display industrial base in the world.

The project contract was signed during the last WCIF, with a construction period of 2 years. The project was planned to be put under construction in the 2^nd quarter of 2017. It is planned to produce 45,000 pieces of semiconductor display products each month. The product is mainly applied to high-end smart mobile phones, high-end tablet PCs and smart wearable display devices.

Compared with traditional display backplane technology, the LTPS technology (low temperature polysilicon technology) panel features the advantages of super-thin appearance, light weight, low power consumption, high resolution and high switching speed. Under the development tendency of large-size mobile screen, high resolution and intelligentization, LTPS/AMOLED product demand will grow rapidly in the next few years. Complete electronic information industrial chain, abundant human resources, huge market capacity and sound transportation and logistics conditions are important factors for BOE to arrange its most advanced production line in Chengdu, said by related official in BOE.

BOE, as the world advanced supplier providing semiconductor display technology, products and services, has ascended to the world’s top-five in the display industry with its large shipments. In 2008, BOE built the 4.5G TFT-LCD Production Line in Chengdu Hi-tech Zone, producing the LCD and modules used for mobile phones, vehicles, industrial controls, medical treatment, etc. More than 20 domestic and foreign supporting projects in the upstream and downstream were carried out in Sichuan. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 9^th by Chen Bihong and Zhang Lan)

The Largest Stainless Steel Market in Western China Opened in Leshan

On May 18^th, the Western China stainless steel market was officially put into operation in the town of Jianong’s Shawan District, becoming the largest-scale stainless steel products collection and distribution center with the most complete supporting service functions.

The market covering Sichuan, Chongqing, Qinghai, Gansu, Shanxi, Xinjiang, Tibet, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, etc. is one of the key parks of the one hundred-billion-level industrial park that is focusing on Sichuan Province for construction, the key construction project in Sichuan Province and the only demonstration base at the provincial-level production service industry clusters in Leshan. It is expected that BOE can keep pace with the other two specialized stainless steel markets-Foshan Market in Southern China (Guangdong) and Wuxi Market in Eastern China (Jiangsu) to become the three main forces in the Chinese market. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 19^th by Liu Ruochen and Chen Jun)

Convention & Exhibition Economy

Sichuan-Taiwan Agricultural Cooperation Forum Firstly Held inTaiwanwith 30 Contracted Cooperation Projects

On May 12^th, the 2^nd Sichuan-Taiwan Agricultural Cooperation Forum was held in Miaoli County of Taiwan for the first time. Director of the Standing Committee of the Taiwan Provincial Party Committee and the Agricultural and Industrial Committee of the Taiwan Provincial Party Committee- Li Changping, chairman of SEF and president of the Third Wednesday Club-Jiang Bingkun attended the forum and gave speeches. More than 300 representatives of related organizations in Sichuan andTaiwan, agricultural enterprises and non-governmental organizations participated in the forum.

The Theme of the modern agriculture-communication and cooperation, mutual development, in-depth communications with respect to the new opportunity of agricultural cooperation, agricultural technical cooperation, rural financial cooperation, modern agricultural park co-construction cooperation, etc. and special discussions in regards to the issues of tea industry, fishing industry and rural tourism industry cooperation were carried out at the forum. During this period, 5 special groups from Chengdu, Panzhihua, Ya'an, Meishan and Xichong and 3 industrial groups of the tea industry, fishing industry and rural tourism industry conducted an in-depth investigation onTaiwangrassroots peasant associations, agricultural enterprises and agricultural parks.

At the forum, 30 projects in terms of the rural cultural tourism industry, tea industry and fishing industry came to collaboration and communication agreements with a total amount of RMB 1.7603 billion and 4 framework agreements in terms of Pacific Fresh Creative Agriculture and Chengdu Cross-strait Agricultural Industrial Park Cooperation, Middle and Big Pig Fully-Expanded Feed Pelleting, "Rice Fragrance Memory" Series Agricultural Park Cooperation and Tea Purchasing Cooperation were signed on site.

At present, Sichuan has become one of the provinces in the mainland bringing about the closest economic and trade cooperation and cultural exchange withTaiwan. More than 200 agricultural projects with an amount of over USD 1 billion have been carried out in Sichuan. In 2014, there were more than 20 newly-registeredTaiwanagricultural enterprises in Sichuan. The Sichuan-Taiwan Agricultural Cooperation Forum has built a good platform for bilateral cooperation. The two parties also signed the agricultural cooperation framework agreements, agreements on rural tourism cooperation, pairing communication, agricultural training, etc. Two pioneer parks forTaiwanfarmers have been established in Xinjin and Yanbian County of Panzhihua, Xichong organic agricultural park has been completed and Sichuan-Taiwan agricultural cooperation demonstration area in Chengdu Tianfu New Area is still under construction. A special exhibition zone for Sichuan-Taiwan agricultural cooperation will be set at the Sichuan Agricultural Expo held this November. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 13^th by Li Miao)

Airport City Asia Pacific Conference Kicked Off and Blueprint of Chengdu’s New Airport to be Unveiled

On May 14^th, the 2015 Airport City Asia Pacific Conference and Exhibition will be kicked off in Chengdu and the blueprints of Chengdu’s new airport will be unveiled.

The Airport City Asia Pacific Conference and Exhibition is one of the largest and most influential worldwide civil aviation conferences in the world, becoming an annual grand meeting of the civil aviation field. After Beijing, Chengdu is the second city inChinato host this conference. Nearly 600 representatives took part in the conference, making it become the largest gathering through out its history. In addition to the Airport City Asia Pacific Conference and Exhibition, the World Route Development Forum will be held in Chengdu in the upcoming year and Chengdu will become the only city in the world holding these two grand events for aviation industry in a year’s time.

During the 3-day conference, more than 40 government officials, industry elites, specialists and scholars will delivery speeches and make discussions by taking promoting aviation economy and jointly building aerotropolis as a subject.

As the Fourth City of the aviation industry and the third city inChinaestablishing two airports, the planning and construction of the new airport in Chengdu received much attention. On the 14^th, the head of the Sichuan Province Airport Group Co., Ltd. will make a keynote address mainly focusing on the planning of the new airport in Chengdu and the strategies for the future development of Sichuan Province Airport Group Co., Ltd. The blueprints of Chengdu’s new RMB 70 billion airport which is planned to be put into service in 2018 will be shown to the public for the first time at the conference.

At the conference, the exhibition area is specially set up with more than 30 domestic and overseas airports, airport design and construction companies to display their advanced ideas and excellent cases including the Canadian Edmonton International  Airport and the first airport city construction project on the African continent. (Sichuan Daily reported on May 14^th by Wang Meiling and Li Xinyi)

CCPIT Sichuan Council

Vice President Li Li Met with the Delegation of New Zealand-CCPIT

In the afternoon of May 14^th, 2015, Vice President Li Li of the CCPIT Sichuan Council met with He Zhiyun- the Head of the New Zealand-CCPIT and its members.

Vice President Li Li extended a warm welcome to the delegation, congratulatedNew Zealandon establishing an office in Chengdu and showed appreciation for the support fromNew   Zealandfor the works of the CCPIT Sichuan Council. He showed that the CCPIT Sichuan Council has attached great importance to their partnership withNew Zealand, always maintained sound cooperative relations with the New Zealand Consulate, Chamber of Commerce, etc., and has organized a delegation of Sichuan enterprises to visitNew   Zealandthat achieved practical results. He hopes that both parties can enhance communication to push forward the bilateral economic and trade relations in the future.

President He Zhiyun thanked the CCPIT Sichuan Council for its help and support, introduced relevant information of the New Zealand-Representative Office of the CCPIT in Chengdu opening soon, Ｄeclared several important tasks for his visit to Sichuan this time around, presented the situation of characteristic farming and animal husbandry foodstuffs, new energy automobiles, NT (Nanotechnology), investor immigrants, agricultural fairs, etc. and showed his desire to enhance cooperation with the CCPIT Sichuan Council and other branch offices in different cities and prefectures. Associate Counsel-Wang Youping and Director Zou Jiou also attended the meeting.

On May 16^th, the delegation went to Guang’an for a field visit and made a docking discussion with enterprises there. Associate Counsel-Wang Youping accompanied the delegation to attend the activities.

Vice President Li Li Met with Newly-appointed Commercial Counselor Li Huilan ofThailandConsulate-general in Chengdu and Her Delegation

In the afternoon of May 14^th, 2015, Vice President Li Li of the CCPIT Sichuan Council met with Ms. Li Huilan, the newly-appointed Commercial Counselor of theThailandConsulate-general in Chengdu and her delegation.

Vice President Li Li firstly extended his warm welcome for the arrival of Commercial Counselor Li Huilan and showed his appreciation to the outgoing Counselor Zhuang Yanlan for her help and support. He said that theThailandConsulate-general in Chengdu, serving as a friendly partner of the CCPIT Sichuan Council, has always maintained a sound cooperative relationship with us. Through successive high-level visits, both parties actively organized enterprises to take part in the economic and trade activities in each other’s country which effectively boosts bilateral trade growth. It is expected that both parties, on the basis of strengthening the existing achievement, can help each other forward to keep expanding the depth and width of cooperation.

Commercial Counselor Li Huilan appreciated our warm reception and introduced responsibilities of this visit and working direction in the future. Both parties also discussed how to enhance cooperation.

Su Hongyi Met with Consul-general Sergio Maffettone of Italian Consulate-general in Chongqing and His Delegation

On May 20^th, 2015, the delegation led by Consul-general Sergio Maffettone of the Italian Consulate-general in Chongqing, Commercial Counselor Gianluca and Director Lucio Carboniz of the Plan, Innovate and Compete Ministry of the Umbria Region in Italy paid a visit to the CCPIT Sichuan Council. Su Hongyi met with them.

Su Hongyi firstly extended his warm welcome to the representatives from the Italian Consulate-general in Chongqing and Umbria Region for their visit and briefly introduced the basic situation of the CCPIT Sichuan Council and work we did at the Expo Milano 2015 in Milan,Italy. He indicated that the CCPIT Sichuan Council will organize Sichuan agricultural delegations to visit Milan this September and will carry out special activities at their World Expo Zone. He expressed his desire that commercial organizations and enterprises in the Umbria Region can take part in the activity and boost bilateral communication and cooperation. He also invited economic and trade delegations from the Umbria Region to come to Sichuan for review and participate in the Chengdu International Trade Fair for Automotive Parts and Aftermarket Services, the China Sichuan Imported Commodity Fair and theChina(Sichuan) Decoration and Soft Decoration Design Exhibition which will be held in May and June each year.

Consul-general Sergio Maffettone showed that the Italian Government attaches great importance to the cooperative relationship with Southwest  China. Air routes direct from Chengdu to Milan are about to open, enterprises from Sichuan Province are warmly welcome inItalyfor review and a visit. The Umbria Region is a highly efficient cooperative partner with outstanding advantages in food safety and food technology, etc. It is expected that the CCPIT Sichuan Council can organize delegations to the Umbria Region for a visit. International Cooperation Project Leader of the Development Bureau in the Umbria Region-Ms. Sereni made an introduction about the situation in competitive fields and industries in the Umbria Region including machinery, aviation, agricultural machinery, the chemical industry, renewable energy sources, textiles, garments, furniture, food processing and packaging, cultural relic repair and handicraft works, etc. and indicated that the government hopes to enhance the cooperation with us in the fore mentioned fields. The responsible person of the Italian China Foundation-Mr. Canapa introduced the Foundation and presented the government’s hopes to enhance cooperation with the CCPIT Sichuan Council in terms of special activities at the Expo Milano.

Striving to Create Automotive Parts Industry Professional Brand Exhibitions

The 2^nd Chengdu International Trade Fair for Automotive Parts and Aftermarket Services (CAPAS) jointly held by Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., CCPIT Auto and the CCPIT Sichuan Council was kicked off in the morning of May 21^st, 2015 at the International Exhibition Center in Century City, Chengdu. CAPAS lasts for 3 days with an exhibition floor of 35000 m². 668 enterprises from all over the world participated in the meeting, an increase of 13%.

With the aim of boosting the development of the automobile industry in Sichuan Province via world brand exhibitions, the organizers are dedicated to integrating and implementing the One Belt and One Road strategy, taking root in Sichuan, keeping a foothold in Western China, facing the whole world and creating a professional brand exhibition integrated with trade, investment and technical exchanges.

Serving as an important trade platform for the auto industry in Southwest China, CAPAS not only attracted many well-known brands including Huaqiang, Liqui Moly, Huirun, Luoshi, Songtian, Ruili, etc. but also ushered in a batch of leading enterprises including FCAR, BMW, Botny, Delian, Kaka, etc. 20,000 professional purchasers, distributors and wholesalers from Sichuan, Chongqing, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Ningxia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Israel and Hungary attended the meeting on purchasing.

This year, the CCPIT Sichuan Council also gathered 83 enterprises from Guang’an, Neijiang, Ziyang, Luzhou, Guangyuan, etc. to participate in the exhibition which occupied 2,000 m², double the size of the last exhibition. Auto parts, automobile maintenance equipment, car accessories, refitted vehicles as well as Xcient, Huachen Jinbei and Ya’an new energy automobiles were displayed at the exhibition.

Vice President of Frankfurt Co., Ltd., General Manager of Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. in Asia Pacific Region-Bao Sifeng, President Wang Xia of the CCPIT-Auto and President Li Gang of the CCPIT Sichuan Council attended the opening ceremony and delivered addresses. Consul-general of the Pakistani Consulate-general and Sri Lanka Consulate-general in Chengdu and responsible parties of related industries and associations also participated in the opening ceremony.

At the Western China Purchasing Forum for Automotive Parts and Aftermarket Services held in the afternoon, President Wang Xia of the CCPIT-Auto, Vice General Manager of Frankfurt (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. Zhou Shaolan, Consul-general of the Malaysian Consulate-general in Kunming, Consul-general of the Hungarian Consulate-general in Chongqing and Consul-general of the Israeli Consulate-general in Chengdu gave rousing speeches. Related leaders from Neijiang City and Linshui  County in Guang’an introduced the development of the automotive parts industry.

Special Promotion Conference of Luzhou Yangtze River Economic Development Zone and Luzhou Port Held in Chengdu

The Luzhou Yangtze River Economic Development Zone, Luzhou Port Promotion Conference cosponsored by the CCPIT Sichuan Council and People’s Government of Luzhou City was held on May 26^th, 2015 in Chengdu. More than 60 foreign trade enterprises mainly engaged in logistics, commerce circulation and manufacturing as well as altogether 120 responsible parties from different special committees of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Sichuan attended the conference. Vice President Li Li of the CCPIT Sichuan Council and ICC in Sichuan, Ｅxecutive Deputy Mayor Cao Junjie of the People’s Government of Luzhou City took part in the conference and gave speeches.

Ｅxecutive Deputy Mayor Cao Junjie of the People’s Government in Luzhou City introduced the developmental situation of the economic society in Luzhou  City, Director Zhong Huagui of the Administration Committee of the Luzhou Yangtze River Development Zone and President Ren Lingjie of the Luzhou Port Affairs Co., Ltd. gave speeches. Luzhou is an important node city actively integrating into the One Belt and One Road construction strategy and an importation regional comprehensive transportation junction in the upper stream of the Yangtze River in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The Luzhou Yangtze River Economic Development Zone is the main area for the development of Sichuan along the Yangtze River and the main carrier to integrate into the Yangtze River Economic Belt and Luzhou Port is the largest port in Sichuan, the shipping center of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou and the thoroughfare to the sea for the southwest. At the promotional conference, responsible parties of the Bureau of Commerce of Luzhou City (CCPIT), Luzhou Customs, the Administration Committee of the Luzhou Yangtze River Development Zone and the Bonded Logistics Center of Luzhou Port and Luzhou City answered all questions from the representatives at the conference concerning land, storage service prices, bonded process, preferential policies, target industries, etc.

The promotion conference with a reasonable agenda, detailed and specialized conference content, matching enterprises and industries and a positive social atmosphere effectively enhanced the influence of the Yangtze River Economic Development Zone and Luzhou  Port and made remarkable achievements.