A delegation led by Chen Fengjian, Xinghua's Party secretary, conducted visits to business enterprises established in France and Finland on Oct 13-19, with the focus on food and low carbon industries.
Xinghua city, located in East China's Jiangsu province, held an investment promotion activity in Paris on Oct 14, attracting over 60 attendees.
Chen told the event that Xinghua and France already had a history of doing business together. He looked forward to attracting more French people to learn about Xinghua and engage in more business trips and cultural and tourism exchange trips to Xinghua.
The food industry is a particularly competitive sector in Xinghua and it's also a globally celebrated industry in France, so the delegation visited French dairy enterprise Lactalis and cookie manufacturer La Fabrique Cookies.
As a food giant in France, Lactalis established China's first dairy processing production plant in Xinghua and increased its investment by $10.83 million last year.
La Fabrique Cookies has supplied products to Disney and the Paris Olympics. In its workshop, the delegation talked with Alexis de Galembert, chairman of the company, on the raw materials such as butter and flour required for cookie production.
The low carbon industry is regarded as being a vital direction for Xinghua to go into emerging industries, while also being in line with the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
The delegation then visited enterprises including Envision Group's Paris headquarters, Eco Living, Elomatic and LIFA AIR. The team subsequently exchanged ideas on the development of green energy, low-carbon industries and other areas.
The Xinghua delegation visits French dairy enterprise Lactalis. [Photo/WeChat account: xinghuafabu]
The Xinghua delegation visits Elomatic, a Finnish industrial design and optimization management company with over 50 years of experience. [Photo/WeChat account: xinghuafabu]