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October 23, 2014

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Investment summit drums up big business deals

The China Global Investment Summit (Hangzhou) was held last week in Hangzhou. As a major part of West Lake International Expo, it attracted over 650 entrepreneurs, industry experts and fund managers from around the world.

During the summit, 19 contracts involving investment of US$1.74 billion in key sectors like the Internet of Things, cloud computing and big data were signed. Among them, foreign investment totaled US$1.04 billion.

Former Irish premier John Bruton, vice provincial governor of Zhejiang Liang Liming, and Hangzhou Mayor Zhang Hongming all gave speeches at the summit.

“The summit is a two-way learning opportunity — introducing global capital markets to Hangzhou and giving the city a chance to contact international investment organizations,” Bruton said.

“Ireland is advanced in software information processing and the high-tech industry. We hope to introduce more Irish enterprises to Hangzhou and attract Zhejiang companies to invest in Ireland,” Bruton added.

The summit also included Steve Barnett, director of the Chinese branch of the International Monetary Fund; Charlene Barshefsky, who served as United States Trade Representative, the country’s top trade negotiator, from 1997 to 2001; and William Knight, president of the Chinese branch of JP Morgan Chase. 

Hangzhou’s strong e-commerce market and favorable entrepreneurial environment were other factors that attracted decision-makers in the business world to the event.

“All of the conventioneers participated in the summit at their own expense, which in return reflected the summit’s appeal and also saved the local authorities a considerable amount of money,” an official with the Hangzhou Commerce Commission told Shanghai Daily.

Since Hangzhou-based Alibaba launched its US$25 billion record-breaking initial public offering in New York last month, it was a popular topic at the summit with every speaker referring to the listing.

In addition, conventioneers were also interested in other Zhejiang companies, which sometimes have difficulties securing financing.

“Companies located at the top of pyramid usually don’t worry about financing, it’s the ones at the bottom that really need to attract attention,” said Christopher Fordham of Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC.

During the summit, another theme was boosting Zhejiang’s real economy.

Zhang Jianhua, director of the Hangzhou sub-branch of the People’s Bank of China, said: “Zhejiang Province depends on traditional manufacturing and it needs to find a new economic growth point. Private companies are facing an industrial transformation and upgrading. They would be more competitive if equipped with advanced technology and capital.”

A special exhibition space displayed the achievements, advantages and favorable environment of investment in the province.

A series of meetings between investment organizations and local companies were arranged so all sides had a chance to find suitable business partners.

According to Hangzhou Commerce Commission, some overseas investment companies showed interest in Hangzhou-based Wahaha Group, Zoland Animation Company, Advance Gear Case Group and Dian Diagnostics.

During the summit, 21 private companies from Zhejiang negotiated with 47 foreign investment organizations.

For example, M2M Private Bank wanted to cooperate with Tiantian Express. Bank representatives toured the express company to learn more about its operations.

On the second day of the summit, delegates visited the Hangzhou Economic and Technology Development Area, Hangzhou High-tech Development Zone, Hangzhou Chengxi Sci-tech and Innovation Industrial Cluster Area, along with neighboring Jiaxing and Shaoxing cities.




 

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