People’s Daily Overseas Edition 2019-06-13
Despite the distance between Qingdao andIsraeland between Qingdao andGermany, bilateral economic, trade and cultural exchanges at local levels would cement closer ties between them.
From June 2 to 7, a Qingdao delegation visitedIsraelandGermany. They held seminars, promotional meetings and business dialogues, and met with local officials, scholars and experts, and tech and business gurus, in a bid to broaden friendly exchanges and cooperation with the local governments and businesses.
Two-way Interactions
As coastal cities, both Qingdao and Tel Aviv boast beautiful coastlines and obvious advantages in the fields of marine science and technology, shipping and tourism, thus, they always have common topics to talk about.
On the afternoon of June 2 (local time), a forum on cooperation in a Qingdao-Israel technological innovation park was held in Tel Aviv,Israel. More than 200 people from government organizations, business associations, research institutions, as well as equipment manufacturing, financial investment, health care and business service sectors attended the event.
“Israelis known as a ‘country of innovations’, where education, science and technology and talent are treasured. It’s important for Qingdao to learn from its successful experience in innovative development,” said Wang Qingxian, secretary of the CPC Qingdao Municipal Committee, at the forum. He hoped to integrateIsrael’s technology and experience with Qingdao’s advantages in market and production capacity in building the Qingdao-Israel innovation park, deepen sci-tech, industrial and trade cooperation, and increase talent exchanges to jointly build the park into a new highland for comprehensive innovations.
Qingdao's proposal met with positive response. Zhan Yongxin, Chinese ambassador toIsrael, vowed to actively promote practical cooperation between Qingdao andIsrael’s local governments and enterprises, and support the construction of the Qingdao-Israel innovation park. Matan Vilnai, president of Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce and former Israeli ambassador toChina, expressed support for the construction of the Qingdao-Israel innovation park in a video.
Qingdao has maintained friendly cooperation withGermanyfor many years. Frankfurt is a German city with a mix of ancient and modern, busy and easy lifestyles. Qingdao is also a city of diverse styles, with a long history and colorful cultures. It is a dreamland for many scholars and business people.
On June 5, a seminar on tourism cooperation between Qingdao andGermanywas held in Frankfurt,Germany. Zhu Hua, secretary-general of the Qingdao municipal government, said thatChinaandGermanyhave a long history of friendship and frequent economic and trade exchanges. Qingdao attaches great importance to two-way exchanges and cooperation with German cities in the fields of culture, tourism, economy and trade, and education.
It is worth mentioning that Norbert Egger, former acting mayor of Mannheim, who is an “honorary citizen of Qingdao”, spoke highly of Qingdao in a speech themed “Qingdao in My Eyes” at the meeting.
On the following day, the Qingdao delegation arrived in Dusseldorf to continue their visit inGermany.
Qingdao’s proposal to hold a “Qingdao Business Week” inGermanyin the second half of 2019 at a Qingdao-Germany business dialogue & opening ceremony of “Qingdao Week” received immediate support from the German side.
Feng Haiyang, Chinese consul-general in Dusseldorf, said, “Qingdao andGermanyhave a long history of exchanges and cooperation. As one of the key nodal cities in the Belt and Road Initiative and a key part of China's first comprehensive pilot zone for the shift of growth drivers, Qingdao will share investment and development opportunities with German enterprises and create the best possible environment and conditions for them.”
In Hamburg,Germany, a photo show on the city of Qingdao held in the Museum of Hamburg History drew much attention.
Industrial Cooperation to Cement Win-win Relationship
Qingdao has set its goals for city development: to build the city into a new key strategic pivot supported by science and technology in northern China through city construction including an international shipping, trade and financial innovation center, an international fashion center, so so on to meet the needs of China's opening-up.
To achieve these goals, through frequent visits, Qingdao strives to enhance win-win cooperation with relevant institutions and enterprises in advantageous industries through visits. The Qingdao delegation’s visit toIsraelandGermanyis part of its endeavors to this end.
At the Ministry of Economy and Industry of Israel, the Qingdao delegation met with Ofer· Freire, deputy director of the Administration Bureau for Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economy and Industry of Israel. Both sides exchanged views and reached a series of consensuses on promoting the construction of the Qingdao-Israel innovation park and strengthening cooperation in port and shipping, economy, trade and business.
Through this visit, Qingdao Port found two business partners.
On June 2, Qingdao Port signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation with Zim Integrated Shipping Services, and a sister port agreement with Haifa Port, respectively. On June 3, members of the delegation from Qingdao Port paid a special visit to Haifa Port and the headquarters of Zim Integrated Shipping Services.
“The signing of the sister port agreement is a new start for win-win cooperation. We hope to work together to turn the agreement into a plan and then carry out the plan.” Chairman Eshel Armony and CEO Mendy Zaltzman of Haifa Port said the two sides reached a consensus on cooperation in the application of automated terminal technology, personnel training and exchanges.
Invited by Qingdao, a high-level delegation of Haifa Port headed by Chairman Eshel Armony will visit Qingdao Port to promote cooperation in specific areas between the two sides.
At the headquarters of Zim Integrated Shipping Services, Eli Glickman, CEO of the company, said that the strategic cooperation agreement provides a better opportunity for the future development of Zim Integrated Shipping Services in Qingdao Port, and for closer cooperation with Qingdao Port in developing new transit routes and inland market and expanding logistics business.
Technological innovation, investment and fashion industry are also major concerns of the Qingdao delegation.
During a face-to-face meeting, Quantum Pacific Group, a holding company of Israel Corporation, expressed interest in cooperation with Qingdao in the management and development of the Qingdao-Israel innovation park, and building a two-way investment platform. Cukierman & Co. Investment House explored the possibility of holding a China-Israel forum on innovation cooperation in Qingdao and establishing a China-Israel development fund. Frankfurt Stock Exchange revealed intentions to deepen cooperation with Qingdao in the financial sector.
Hebrew University, known as Harvard in the Middle East, also expressed support for the construction of Qingdao-Israel innovation park in Qingdao. It intended to establish an institutionalized cooperation relationship with Qingdao and seek cooperation in the fields of marine research, genetic engineering, and transformation of technological achievements under the cooperation framework of the Qingdao-Israel innovation park. AHAVA,Israel’s most famous skincare brand, also showed interest in setting up an AHAVA fashion center in Qingdao.
Fruitful Achievements and Profound Friendship
Qingdao has a long history of friendship withIsrael. As early as 1997, Qingdao became a sister city of Ness Ziona, a city in the south ofIsrael.
Qingdao Industrial and Business Center inIsrael, since its establishment in 2016 at Rothschild Blvd, Tel Aviv,Israel, has served as a platform for local economic and trade cooperation between Qingdao andIsrael.
In September 2017, Qingdao signed an MOU on cooperation with the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce. According to Zhao Shiyu, director-general of Qingdao Bureau of Commerce,Israelhas invested in a number of projects in Qingdao covering logistics and agriculture. Qingdao’s Hisense Group, Haier Group and Wintec System Co., Ltd have set up innovation centers inIsraelto promote economic and trade cooperation.
Recently, Qingdao and the Israeli Embassy inChinajointly proposed to build a Qingdao-Israel innovation park in Qingdao. Now, Qingdao has drafted a preliminary plan for the construction of the park, in order to build it into an influential cooperation park between the two countries.
During the visit, Qingdao Bureau of Commerce signed an MOU on strategic cooperation with Israel-China Chamber of Commerce, including an MOU for supporting the construction of the Qingdao-Israel innovation park and contracts of cooperation for investment, trade, technical cooperation and fund cooperation.
Located in the West Coast New Area of Qingdao, the Sino-German Eco-Park is an ecological demonstration project between the Chinese and German governments, and a model of Sino-German cooperation. It is the first demonstration project for sustainable development between the two sides.
As a result of the Qingdao delegation’s visit, a number of cooperation projects are settled in the Sino-German Eco-Park. At a Qingdao-Germany business dialogue & the opening ceremony of “Qingdao Week” inGermany, nine projects were signed into the Sino-German Eco-Park. Among them, Krups Foerder Systeme GmbH, a century-old family business inGermany, will build in the Sino-German Eco-Park in Qingdao its first high-end transmission system production, research and development and sales center inChina. BWT, Europe’s largest water treatment company, will invest and set up its firstChinaplant in Qingdao.
At the Qingdao-Germany tourism cooperation seminar, Qingdao Bureau of Culture and Tourism,ChinaInternational Travel Service (Qingdao), and Weidong Group signed cooperation MOUs with their German peers.
Qingdao’s promotion efforts inGermanyare aimed at enhancing economic and cultural exchanges between Qingdao andGermany.Germanyis Qingdao’s largest trading partner in Europe. In 2018, Qingdao’s trade volume withGermanyreached US$2.37 billion, of which $1.51 billion was from export, ranking first among its partners in Europe.
At the same time,Germanyis the largest European investor in Qingdao. By the end of March this year,Germanyinvested in 356 projects in Qingdao, with a total investment of $2.6 billion.
Currently, Qingdao is building “two platforms” for economic and trade cooperation withGermany- the Sino-German Eco-Park in Qingdao and Qingdao Industrial and Business Center inGermany. The former is aimed to attract high-end German industries to serve Qingdao’s urban development and industrial transformation and upgrading.
The latter is aimed to collect cooperation information, introduce advanced German technology, and attract high-caliber research talent fromGermany. At the same time, Qingdao strives to build the “Qingdao Week” and “Qingdao Business Week” inGermanyinto a platform for high-level cooperation and exchanges, and to make the Qingdao forum on China-Germany economic and trade cooperation an annual event to provide a platform for exchanges and cooperation between enterprises on both sides.
