China Remains Key to Multinationals' Future Strategy

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 09, 2003

China Remains Key to Multinationals' Future Strategy

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Representatives of multinational corporations and the international business community agreed Monday in Xiamen that China has become and will remain the key to multinationals' future development strategies.

Robert Kapp, president of the US-China Business Council, who is here attending the 7th China International Fair for Investment and Trade, said China currently absorbs some 50 billion US dollars of foreign direct investment, which indicates China has become a good nation for investment.

Quite a few member companies of the US-China Business Council have major investment in China, he said.

Jurgen Hambrecht, chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF, said his company puts "a strong focus" on China, presently the sixth largest economy in the world.

"China has become the growth engine of the world economy with an annual growth rate of six to seven percent, and the WTO accession has given an additional boost," he said.

Hambrecht predicted the chemical market in China will grow faster than its gross domestic product, which will make China, today the third largest chemical market worldwide, the second largest chemical market by the year 2010.

He disclosed that his company plans to invest an additional 2 billion Euros to expand its local production bases in China, with major projects in Nanjing and Shanghai. "With these investments wemost probably are the biggest foreign investor in the chemical industry in China," Hambrecht said.

The multinational chemical giant now operates 17 companies in such Chinese cities as Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Jilin and Shenyang.

"The mentioned projects are not the end of a successful series of investments but they mark a solid starting point."

He promised BASF is prepared and dedicated to delivering world class, modern technologies and products.

Sergio Giroldi, chief executive officer of the largest home center chain in Germany - the OBI Group - said the Chinese economy has experienced 25 years of continuous speedy development and China has become an important strength in globalization and one of the biggest consumer markets in the world.

Since the OBI China management headquarters to develop building materials business was established in Shanghai in 1998, the company has achieved "remarkable results" under the strong support of the Chinese Government, enterprises and consumers.

"OBI's first year purchase volume in China was 300 million Euros, and it grows in two-digit rates. We expect to achieve 1 billion Euro purchases in three to four years," he said.

OBI has opened six home centers in the Chinese cities of Wuxi, Shanghai, Nanjing and Qingdao since 2000, providing 42,000 varieties of products.

"OBI's success story in China drives its overseas partners and suppliers to invest and develop the China market together," he said.

China's achievements over the past 20 years proved its strategy to introduce foreign capital and open to the outside world is absolutely correct, he said, and China is becoming the paradise of international investors and companies.

"In the new era of OBI's development in China, we hope to better work together with the Chinese Government and partners," he said.

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