Source: Ningbo Evening News

Hong Run Group, the giant construction company in Xiangshan County, has been approved by the State Planning and Reform Committee to develop a real estate project in Mongolia, with investment of up to USD 150 million. According to Mr. Yu Danhua, Director General of Ningbo BOFTEC, this is the largest outward investment by a Ningbo company.

Just this year, five projects by Ningbo companies to exploit natural resources overseas have been approved. They are in Liberia (lumbering), Argentina (mineral exploit and sales), Laos (ore exploit and sales), Nigeria (quarrying) and Papua New Guinea (lumbering). Quite a few companies are interested in overseas natural resources, and one of the successful cases is Ya Li Woods & Lumbering in Papua New Guinea with the sales volume up to USD 30 million by the end of Sept. this year.

Ningbo companies are also interested in setting up overseas R&D labs to make full use of advanced human and technology resources for new products. Two examples are Sunny Optics in Japan and Ningbo Self Electronics in Germany. Up till now, eight Ningbo companies have established overseas R&D labs.

In order to strengthen the mutual communications between the twin cities, the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Councillor Jeannie Packer visited Ningbo, the sister city of Nottingham, UK from October the 25th to 27th2009. Accompanied by the officers from Ningbo Foreign Affairs Office, Councillor Jeannie Packer visited the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo No. 7 Middle School, Ningbo Museum and Tianyige Pavilion. On the night of 26th, the Lord Mayor together with the Nottingham delegation was received by Chen Xin, Deputy Party Secretary of Ningbo and directors from Ningbo Education Bureau, Ningbo Culture Bureau and Ningbo Foreign Affairs Office. During the meeting, Chen Xin introduced the current development situation in Ningbo and summarised the fruitful results that had been achieved in mutual trade, education and cultural communications ever since Ningbo and Nottingham became sister cities in 2005. Lord Mayor expressed her gratitude to Ningbo City Government for the warm welcome. She was impressed with city construction projects as well as cultural and education developments in Ningbo. Finally, she expressed the wish that the two cities would learn from each other and collaborate with each other to achieve mutual prosperity.
In the end of November, Nottingham Castle Museum will open a photographic exhibition in Ningbo Museum. Nottingham would expect assistance from Ningbo to increase mutual understanding between residents of the two cities.

Held annually from October the 22nd to 25th, the Ningbo International Fashion Fair is regarded as a grand event for the local textile and fashion industry. The 2nd International Fashion Industry Cooperation Round Table Talk (Ningbo), as a crucial component of the 13th Fashion Fair, was held in Shangri-La Hotel, Ningbo on the 22nd of October. Sponsored by Ningbo City Government, China Council of Promoting International Trade (CCPIT) and China National Garment Association, the round-table talk aimed at promoting the international industrial collaboration under the new global economic orders. The representative from our Ningbo Office together with other distinguished guests from 18 countries including the UK, the U.S., Germany, Italy and South Korea attended the talk and delivered a speech. During the talk, representatives from local governments, fashion associations and garment manufacturing companies analysed and discussed the future development of fashion industry in both their own regions and Ningbo. Besides, several agreements were reached during the talk, including the one between Ningbo and Asian Clothing and Textile Machinery Exhibition Organizing Committee.

Sponsored by Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government and the Ministry of Commerce, Zhejiang Investment and Trade Symposium (ZJITS) and China International Consumer Goods Fair (CICGF) are held every year on June 8th in Ningbo since 1999 and 2002 respectively. As a grand comprehensive economic and trade event, the five-day trade fair has attracted tens of thousands of guests and has gained fame both domestically and internationally. With a theme of “New Space, New Industry, New Extent”, the 11th Zhejiang Investment & Trade Symposium and 8th China International Consumer Goods Fair is mainly composed of an Import & Export Products Exhibition, International Business Negotiations, and a Forum on Zhejiang Opening-up. Up to the closing date of June 12th, 192 projects have been signed at the symposium with 3.17billion USD of contractual foreign investment. It is worth noting that as the sister city of Ningbo, Nottingham has got the attention from many local companies and investment bureaux. Some of them have shown interest in cooperating with Nottingham businesses.

Invited by the Chinese Embassy in the UK, Madam Wu Lan, the Director of Inner Mongolia International Cultural Association, brought a major Mongolian exhibition and performance to London last week. Due to the close links between Nottingham and Ordos of Inner Mongolia, Madam Wu Lan and other delegation members visited Nottingham on Sunday 9th November.

The partnership between Nottingham and Ordos of Inner Mongolia started with Madam Fu Ying, the Chinese Ambassador’s visit to Nottingham in May 2008. Recommended by the Ambassador, Nottingham City Council representatives visited Ordos of Inner Mongolia in June 2008 and agreed to develop collaborations in cultural and educational exchanges between the two cities.

In October 2008, Nottingham representatives met Madam Su, the Director of Ordos Beijing Office and further confirmed Nottingham’s intention to cooperate.

Ordos is one of the fastest developing Chinese cities with great natural resources. The city’s rich culture gives it a large potential for cultural and educational exchanges and cooperation. Nottingham City and County schools and the local cultural sector are keen to work with Ordos to bring this unique Mongolian culture to Nottingham schools and communities.

The delegation was received by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and John Connelly, the Regional & International Manager of Nottingham City Council in the Council House where the two parties had a productive discussion on opportunities for educational and cultural collaboration. They also visited Wollaton Hall where they were impressed by the collections; and the University of Nottingham where they heard of its exciting work with China. The picture shows John Connelly and Vincenzo Raimo, the Director of the International Office of the University of Nottingham met Madam Wu Lan in the university.

Yesterday morning, Carrefour held its purchasing meeting in Ningbo International Exhibition Centre. It was mainly about food and agricultural products. Around 150 suppliers attended the meeting.
At the meeting, the person responsible for Zhejiang and Fujian provinces introduced the entry requirement to be part of supply chain of food and agricultural products to Carrefour. Carrefour has just set up the office in Ningbo International Products Purchasing Centre, and is amongst the first entry list.
Date: 8 Nov. 2008, Source: Ningbo Daily

A Taiwan fruit franchised store was opne in Ningbo. Yesterday morning, as part of Food Fair activities, the store opening ceremony was held in Ningshu Fruit Market. Over 20 types of Taiwan fruits can be seen here, for instance, pineapple, star fruit, as well as drinks and candies from Taiwan.
The director of the store said that the store had been accepted by local people after one-month trial sale. In the future they would not only bring Taiwan food to Ningbo, but also conducted experience exchange in planting and processing with Ningbo peasants. Ningbo is their first stop in Zhejiang province because they are confident on her potential purchasing power and port advantage. In the future more franchised stores will be opened in Wenzhou and Hangzhou, and hopefully the price will be cheaper.
Date: 8 Nov. 2008, Source: South East Business

104th Canton Fair started yesterday in Guangzhou. 406 Ningbo companies were exhibited covering business of textile, garment and stationery. It is disclosed that in the face of “winter” market after the financial crises, even the buyers felt cold and were pro-active to talk with suppliers, especially good Ningbo companies about technical and financial co-operation, in order to overcome the difficulties.
“Would you please propose for us what to sell and at which price now?” When the journalist met Mr. Shi Jun yesterday, General Manager of Ning Ao Garment Company, Mr. Shi was taking a phone call from CEO of Target, Australian Department Store. The CEO wished Ning Ao to help develop cheaper products and make a flexible payment, in order to relief their tight situation. Ning Ao has set up good relationship with Australian market (including Target) and their market share was No. 7. Ningbo Ao is actively designing products that suit local needs.
It is not rare that buyers asked help from Ningbo companies. Beifa Group, Guangbo Group, Yongnan Knitting and Seduno Group all met such buyers.
At the second phase of 104th Canton Fair, Ningbo delegation reached contract valued USD 1.51 billion. Purchasing contracts from Middle East came to the top and for the first time surpassed Europe and US. Four largest types of products in contracts included household products, utensils, gifts and home decoration products.
Date: 3 Nov. 2008, Source: Ningbo Net

The Chinese Forbes List 2008 came out yesterday. Mr. Liu Yongxing, Forage and Aluminium Giant is on the No.1. Eleven entrepreneurs from Ningbo were on the list.
Mr. Ding Lei (business: IT and e-game) was on No. 17 with his assets of RMB 8.5 billion. Xiong Xuqiang couple (business: real estate and infrastructure) was on No. 50 with their assets of RMB 4.96 billion.
Others were Mr. Shen Guojun (No. 63) of Yintai Group, Ye Lipei family (No. 74) of Super Ocean Group, Xu Wanmao Family (No. 91) of Huamao Group, Mr. Jiang Nanchun (No. 92) of Focus Media, Mr. Xu Qiming (No. 114) of Xu Long Group, Mr. Zheng Jianjiang (No. 215) of Aux Group, Li Rucheng Family (No. 260) of Youngor Group, Zheng Yonggang (No. 339) of Shanshan Group and Mr. ZhuMin (No. 366) of Cybernaut Investment.
Date: 31 Oct. 2008, Source: South East Business

Yesterday Heyi Avenue and Louis Vuitton signed the agreement to open its franchise store at Heyi Avenue next April. This is the first world-famous brand that has been introduced to the avenue. Mr. Su Limian, Vice Mayor of Ningbo and Mr. Francois Delage, China Director of Louis Vuitton attended the ceremony.
According to the design plan, Heyi Avenue will establish six commercial centres – international brands, leisure area, fashion & shopping, global cuisine, excellent clubs and SPA healthcare. In additional to LV, Heyi Avenue has completed discussion with Cartier, Gucci, Armani and Ferrari that will land to Heyi Avenue in the future.