?The Zhongguancun administrative committee and the Washington D.C. government co-sponsored a seminar on investing in the US on July 23.

Beijing and Washington are sister cities. The seminar aimed to enhance cooperation between Zhongguancun and Washington D.C. and facilitate Zhongguancun enterprises to do business in the US. The delegation from Washington introduced their policies to promote hi-tech enterprise development, the 1776 enterprises incubator’s advantages, and the talent cultivation advantages of George Washington University.

Zhongguancun entrepreneurs exchanged ideas with the Washington representatives on visas, registrations and taxes. The Washington representatives said they will spare no efforts to support the enterprises to set up branches in Washington. They had one-on-one exchanges with enterprises to learn about their needs and difficulties regarding investing in the US.

Zhou Guolin, vice-director of the committee; Zeng Xiao Dong, director of Zhongguancun’s international business; David Zipper, director of D.C.’s business development and strategy department; Sanjay Rupani, chief strategy officer of the business school of George Washington University and 20 entrepreneurs from Zhonguancun attended the seminar.

Vice-Director Zhou appreciated the support of the D.C. government. He said that Washington has distinctive position advantages because it is a cluster for international organizations such as the World Bank and federal agencies such as the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and NIH (National Institute of Health). "Internationalization is a trend for enterprises, thus they should pay more attention to international cooperation to promote their technology and products to international markets," said Zhou.

The 20 entrepreneurs said they felt it was a great opportunity to learn about Washington D.C.’s business environment and policies, which are crucial to their future entry into the North American market.