Fair builds tech ties across borders

A New Zealand booth is crowded with visitors. Lin Jing / China Daily

Hungary, Germany among nations that inked deals

A delegation from Hungary signed memorandums of understanding to invest a total of 2 billion yuan ($328 million) in cooperative projects with companies based in Shenzhen at the China High-Tech Fair on Nov 18.

A green theme characterizes many of the projects, including a base for research on energy efficiency and other environmental technologies, a manufacturing and research center for bio-diesel and a technological partnership on water resource management and environmental protection.

The projects will attract advanced industries from Hungary, including environmental protection, renewable energy and water resource management, further strengthening high-tech exchanges between the two countries, according to Invest Shenzhen, the city's official investment promotion agency and the entity responsible for orchestrating this international partnership.  

Kovacs Laszlo, chairman of the Hungarian Environmental Protection Association, said: "Shenzhen poses a big opportunity for us, given that the local government attaches great importance to environmental protection."

"The industries in Hungary are very willing to work with our counterparts in Shenzhen to help the city win recognition as an environmental protection leader in China," he said.

Held from Nov 16 to 21 every year in Shenzhen, the China High-Tech Fair has grown into an attractive venue for foreign companies to find Chinese partners and explore business opportunities in the technology industry.

According to the organizing committee of the event, 29 delegations from 20 countries, including the United States, Russia, Australia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom, have organized exhibitions at the 15th fair this year.

The number of foreign delegations and their exhibition areas both doubled that of last year, according to the organizing committee.

"We have attended this event for many years," Michel Gerebtzoff, commercial consul at the Consulate-General of Belgium in Guangzhou.

"Shenzhen is now one of the high-tech hubs in China," said Gerebtzoff, adding that it is a good opportunity for Belgian companies to meet partners.

He said Belgium is interested in cooperation in such sectors as pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, green tech and logistics, which are also the country's strong industries.

He said the consulate normally comes here to build connections for its companies, and after that those companies will follow up with specific projects.

To date, about 60 companies from Belgium have established operations in Shenzhen, and he said there are some new companies coming to build factories in the neighboring city of Guangzhou.

He said Belgium is one of the first countries that came to China 30 years ago to start business cooperation with the country, and has maintained good bilateral relations since then.

"We feel that the fair this year is dynamic and presents a good mix of international and local firms. It is very positive," he said, adding that he wants to make as many contacts as possible.