Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy, Étienne Schneider, declared the economic mission to China a success as the visit was rounded up with a tour of the automotive sector and two economic and tourism seminars.
Presided by HRH the Hereditary Grand Duke accompanied by HRH the Hereditary Grand Duchess and led by the Deputy PM, the fourth day of the mission on Thursday 5 May 2016 involved a visit to Shanghai International Automobile City to explore the Shanghai Auto Museum, which shows the evolution of the automotive sector through a 70 vehicle display.
A cooperation agreement was subsequently signed between Luxinnovation - the Luxembourg agency for the promotion of innovation and research - and Shanghai International Auto City. Like the future Luxembourg Automotive Campus which will be established in Roost, the industrial zone of Shanghai Auto City is focused on R&D in the automotive sector. The official delegation passed by the research centre of the automobile brand MG, acquired by SAIC in 2007, which will soon be reintroduced in Europe.
The official delegation then had lunch with the president of the China Minsheng Investment Corp. (CMI), which owns 33.5% of Luxaviation. In the afternoon, their Royal Highnesses and the Deputy Prime Minister attended the launching ceremony of the first plane in the Joint-Venture Jinggong Globat Ket. This joint venture between Global Jet Luxembourg and the Jinggong Group represents an inaugural partnership between an operator of Chinese business aviation and a foreign company. Later that evening, the delegation visited the Chinese capital by aircraft.
Friday 6 May 2016 was the occasion for several seminars in Beijing to promote the Grand Duchy as a tourist and business destination. At the seminar entitled "Luxembourg: Your Innovation Centre in Europe", two cooperation agreements were signed between the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
The day's programme then involved a lunch with the Vice President of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), whose subsidiary HiWing is a majority shareholder of the Luxembourg enterprise IEE. Talks focused on the development of IEE activities in the Grand Duchy, with Minister Schneider welcoming the confirmation from leaders of the creation fo a new sensor development centre in Luxembourg.
The economic mission was concluded on 6 May 2016 with a reception in Beijing to celebrate ten years of the IEE in China.
"The mission allowed us to deepend the work in economic advancement, and partciularly the promotion in China of Luxembourg as a tourist destination," commented Luxembourg PM and Minister for the Economy, Étienne Schneider. "Seminars organised in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing have raised awareness among Chinese tour operators. In addition, several companies have shown a strong interest either to establish themselves or expand their activities in the Grand Duchy. Thus China Pay, the Chines equivalent of PayPal, and the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, see Luxembourg as a great site to locate their European headquarters. ZTE, active in the production of telecommunications equipment, will consider the potential of Luxembourg as a logistics centre for the distribution of their products in Europe."
Photos by © 2016 SIP / Luc Deflorenne
