German Center Shanghai to build sub-center in Guangzhou

The Guangzhou Development District and the Shanghai-based German Center for Industry and Trade signed an MoU on strategic cooperation during a trade fair featuring China’s Guangdong province and Bavaria, Germany in Guangzhou on Nov 6.

According to the agreement the two sides will build a German center in Guangzhou and develop it into the German Center Shanghai’s regional headquarters for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

It aims to bring in cutting-edge technologies from Germany and elsewhere in Europe, as well as to offer a business platform for leading enterprises.

A strategic cooperation coordination group will be established to provide consulting services on planning, design, construction and operational management for the new German Center in Guangzhou Science City in the GDD.

The German enterprise center will be built by Science City (Guangzhou) Investment Group under the GDD Administrative Committee in accordance with the latest German standards. The complex will include a business invitation center, a reception center, a business center and an incubator.

Upon its completion, the center will target "invisible champion" enterprises from Germany, which refers to relatively unknown small and medium-sized enterprises that employ no more than 500 people but enjoy a vast majority of shares of domestic or international markets.

Germany has more than 1,400 such companies, accounting for about half of the world's total.

In addition, the center will conduct targeted investment promotion for excellent foreign enterprises and well-known industrial leaders that have set up factories in China but have not yet invested in the GDD.

The German Centers network serves as a channel for German medium and small-sized enterprises to invest outside Germany and is supported by BayernLB and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg.

It was founded more than 20 years ago and has grown into an important platform of economic exchange between China and Germany through business talks, cooperation with government and media exposure.

The German Center Shanghai, on the campus of Tongji University, was founded in 1994 for promoting foreign trade and has been a subsidiary of BayernLB since 1996.

In addition to Shanghai, the German Centers also have offices in Beijing, Taicang and Qingdao in China, which play a big role in promoting local economic exchange and inviting investment.

As one of the first 14 national economic and technological development zones in China, the GDD has attracted more than 3,500 foreign-funded enterprises and 170 of the world’s top 500 enterprises and projects.

The district is one of the most densely invested regions by multinational companies in China. Some of its 160 companies, including nearly 30 top 500 global enterprises, are from European countries. More than 20 enterprises in the district are invested in the EU with a total investment of more than $200 million.

The GDD has had frequent exchange and cooperation with Germany, especially after the friendship between Guangdong and Bavaria was established in 2004.

The signing ceremony was attended by Christian Sommer, chairman of the German Center Shanghai, Zhang Guangjun, vice governor of Guangdong province and his German counterpart.

Share - WeChat