The provincial government of Jiangsu held a meeting with more than 50 French-invested enterprises on June 15 to communicate the latest policy and also learn about their concerns and expectations in development.
The coastal province is home to 690 French developments that involved a total investment of $3.18 billion. Leading enterprises from France, such as EDF, Veolia, BNP Paribas, Orpea, Air Liquide and Dassault Systèmes, have all made investment in the province, an economic powerhouse of China.
Accor in Jiangsu operates 76 hotels with 12,400 rooms, including Fairmont Nanjing, Pullman Wuxi and Pullman Taicang, with an annual revenue of $1.3 billion.
A world leader in gases, technologies and services for industry and health, Air Liquide has constantly expanded its presence in Jiangsu since opening its first plant in Wuxi in 2003. It has set up nearly 20 subsidiaries in the province, such as the ultra-high purity industrial gas plant in Wuxi, and also agreed to invest 100 million euros for a project at the Jiangsu Yangtze River International Metallurgy Industrial Park.
Arkema has more than 3,000 employees in China, 10 industrial sites and 2 R&D centers, among which 4 sites and one R&D center are in Jiangsu’s Changshu, Zhangjiagang and Taixing cities. Jiangsu is now home to 70% of the company’s investment in China, nearly half of its employees and more than half of sales volume.
BNP Paribas and Bank of Nanjing are cooperating to obtain a controlling stake of a consumer finance company. The two sides plan to invest about 5 billion yuan in 2022 and the new company is expected to achieve a consumer loan balance of approximately 100 billion yuan within five years.
Many French companies including Arkema have released their roadmaps for carbon emission reduction. As the world's leading nuclear operator and the European energy market leader, the EDF Group has expressed its hope to continue developing large-scale projects with Chinese partners.
Air Liquide said it’s committed to decarbonizing its own production facilities and is in active talks to purchase renewable energy. With the help of China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN), the French company purchased 200 GWh of solar photovoltaic renewable energy last year.
The province’s Development and Reform Commission said Jiangsu saw 18 deals for 924 million kWh of green electricity reached in the first half of the year. Industrial enterprises can sign agreements with electricity generators and complete the deal on the Jiangsu Power Trading Centre platform.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Jiangsu’s installed capacity for wind power and solar power is expected to increase by 30 million kilowatts. The province will support the use of solar power firstly close to the generation site, optimize the generation of wind power, and build offshore wind farms with a total capacity of more than 10 million kilowatts.
In addition to energy issues, some French-invested enterprises hoped the government can provide more policy support.
The provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology said Jiangsu has introduced a slew of measures this year to help market players cope with the impact of COVID-19 and also stabilize the province’s economy. The province has earmarked 30% of a special fund for industrial transformation for SMEs in difficulties.
The provincial Health Commission said Jiangsu has lifted restrictions on holding offline events and two major exhibition centers in Nanjing have reopened.
The provincial Department of Commerce issued invitation letters for nearly 60,000 trade and economic personnel, including those from French-funded enterprises. Such efforts aimed to support normal business operations in the anti-epidemic fight.
