Beijing, Nokia Set Up Xingwang Industrial ParkA world-class high-tech industrial park geared towards the 21st century -- the Xingwang (International) Industrial Park -- was inaugurated on May 8 in Beijing.Beijing Mayor Liu Qi and Nokia Chairman Jorma Ollila attended the signing and ground-breaking ceremony held on the morning of May 8 in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone (BETDZ), on behalf of the Beijing Municipal Government and the park's foreign- funded enterprises, respectively. Located in the BETDZ and covering some 50 hectares, the newly launched Xingwang (International) Industrial Park is expected to cost more than 10 billion yuan. The park will mainly engage in research and development, manufacturing, marketing, and services for mobile telecommunications products. The entire park is scheduled to be completed in three years, and when operational its annual sales volume is expected to reach 50 billion yuan. Beijing Nokia Mobile Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (Beijing Nokia) will be the first to settle in the park and prompt other component providers, service providers in related areas, and research and development institutions at home and abroad to invest in the park or establish factories or subsidiaries there. Beijing Nokia is a joint venture between Nokia (China) Investment Co. Ltd. and the Capital Group, with each holding a 50 percent share. Manufacturing and selling cellular system equipment and digital mobile telephones, Beijing Nokia is a telecommunications company with large-scale production capacity for GSM network. At the signing and ground breaking ceremony, Mayor Liu Qi said he appreciated the park's positive role in attracting foreign investment, expanding exports, and promoting the local economy. Liu said that as China's center for international exchanges, Beijing will firmly open wider to the outside world, and as always welcome and support overseas business people to invest in Beijing. Beijing will make fresh progress in launching joint ventures and cooperative projects, especially in the high-tech field, he said. He expressed the hope that such creative models as the Xingwang (International) Industrial Park will constantly develop and improve to provide new experience for further enhancing technical exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises and raise its international competitiveness. At the signing ceremony, Jorma Ollila, chairman and chief executive officer of Nokia Group, said, "This year marks the 15th anniversary of Nokia coming to China, and we are delighted to get involved in the construction of the Xingwang (International) Industrial Park on such a momentous occasion." He said that Nokia has always committed itself to becoming China's best cooperative partner, and that without the great support and help from governments at all levels and cooperative partners in China, they would not have been able to score such a development as today. He said that he expects the highly efficient mobile telecommunications industrial park to gradually become a world advanced comprehensive mobile telecommunications manufacturing base. |
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