Ferrero-Waldner: "Shanghai is a magnet for Austrian companies"
06.11.2003
AVL-List funds a chair for internal combustion engines in Shanghai
Shanghai, 6 November 2003 - In the presence of Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner the agreement on the funding of a chair for internal combustion engines was signed today in Shanghai between the Graz-based company AVL-List and Tongji University. At the signing ceremony the Foreign Minister stressed that this chair "is a promising cooperation project between the Austrian private industry and the Chinese scientific community".
Following the talks held in Shanghai Ferrero-Waldner said today that apart from the already existing very strong cooperation between Austrian and Chinese companies in the fields of chemicals and machinery, she sees a huge potential opening up for water-saving technology, the transport and energy sectors, raw materials, environmental protection and high technology. The Foreign Minister emphasised that the business magnet Shanghai also attracts Austrian companies with their presence constantly expanding. "Currently 90 Austrian companies maintain representation offices or have opened up branch establishments in Shanghai and East China. Further offices and establishments are being constructed, at their planning stage or in the process of being set up. In the last four years, the number of Austrians has doubled, due to the rapid economic development of Shanghai and its surrounding provinces. This region is attracting an increasing number of Austrian companies, which are not only setting up representation offices and joint ventures, but also production facilities", Ferrero-Waldner pointed out.
In her talks in Shanghai the Foreign Minister particularly drew her discussion partners’ attention to Austrian companies active in the field of environmental protection. "I would really appreciate it if the representatives of Austrian companies accompanying me on this trip could succeed in concluding as many contracts as possible in the environmental sector, thus contributing to the important goal of a clean environment. Austrian companies not only have substantial expertise in this field, but also state of the art technologies", Ferrero-Waldner said.
Besides, Ferrero-Waldner also pointed to the excellent technical know-how Austrian companies could make available to Shanghai for the planning and implementation of the World Exhibition of 2010 and - additionally - to assist the city in keeping the negative environmental impact of such a huge event as low as possible.
Tomorrow Ferrero-Waldner will meet Chief Executive TUNG Chee Hwa in Hong Kong to discuss business-related matters, in particular the future of the Special Economic Zone, and open a round table discussion on environmental protection.
