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| Portfolio |
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| While assisting the Minister in guiding the overall work of MOFCOM, Mr.Yu's portfolio also covers the Department of General Economic Affairs, Department of European Affairs, Department of Foreign Affairs, MOFCOM Party Committee, Department of Retired Cadres’ Affairs, China Foreign Trade Center and China-Europe Association
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| Speech of Mr. Yu Guangzhou at 2005 China-Austria Economic Forum |
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| | From: Article type: |
Distinguished Federal Chancellary Wolfgang Schussel
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to see friends from economic community of Austria get together in China to discuss the issue of development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation between China and Austria. First of all, please allow me on behalf of the Ministry of Commerce of PRC to extend warm welcome to Austrian friends and sincere congratulations to the opening ceremony of Austria Economic Exhibition in China.
Since the implementation of open-up in 1978, China made great achievements in economic construction. GNP increased from US$140 billion in 1978 to over US$1.6 trillion and the economic scale stepped up to No. 7 worldwide, meanwhile, total foreign trade went up from US$20.6 billion in 1978 to US$1.1548 trillion in 2004, trade scale climbed up from No.32 to No.3. By the end of 2004, total actual use of foreign investment reached US$562 billion, and the strategy of "Going Global" made initial effect, total overseas direct investment in China hit US$37 billion by the end of 2004.
In 2004, Chinese government timely and decidedly enhanced the macro-control measures against overheated investment and shortage of energy sources in some industries in the process of economic performance, and got outstanding achievements, the national economy realized steady, sustainable and rapid development. GDP increased by 9.5% in 2004. Within 3 years since the entry into WTO, China earnestly implemented various commitments, repealed a batch of laws and regulations on foreign cooperation, reduced tariff of industrial products by a big margin and gradually opened up the areas of banks, insurance, commerce and foreign trade as schedule. While stregthening the open-up, Chinese government highly stressed and actively promoted the work of IPR protection with an earnest attitude of responsibility to create a more fair and transparent commercial environment for investors. Most of enterprises here are the witness and beneficiary.
The developing China provided huge trading opportunities for all countries in the world. In 2004, total retail sales of consumer goods in China amounted to over US$650 billion. In order to meet the increasing requirements of domestic market, China imported a large number of commodities per year, in 2004, imported US$561.4 billion, up by 36% compared with the previous year. It is predicted that the import market of China is expected to be US$1 trillion every year after 2010. In 2020, China will realize the target of building up a well-off society in an all round way, GDP will double compared with 2000, reaching US$4 trillion and GDP per capita amounting to US$3000. With the gradual access of China to global economic integration, China-Austria economic cooperation will obtain new development opportunities. The Ministry of Commerce of PRC, as the administrative department of China’s foreign trade and economic cooperation, we hope that Austrian enterprises can further enhance the cooperation with Chinese enterprises with a strategic view, more positive attitude and brave exploitation spirit, especially, can take part in the revitalization of old industrial basis in northeast China and China Western Development.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Austria, the bilateral relations developed steadily and high-level visits between each other were frequently, besides, the two countries made huge success in trade and economic cooperation and communication. From the beginning of the century, China-Austria bilateral trade developed with a high speed and maintained a growth rate of 30%, hitting historical high repeatedly. According to China’s Customs statistics, China-Austria bilateral trade in 2004 broke through US$2 billion for the first time, reaching US$2.29 billion, up by 28.8%. Two-way investment and technological cooperation were active. By the end of 2004, statistics released from MOFCOM indicated that Austria invested 656 projects in China with agreed investment of US$1.3 billion and actual use of investment of US$540 million. Meanwhile, China introduced 788 contracts on technology with a value of US$2.74 billion.
Looking into the future, China and Austria have a strongly complementary to each other economically and the prospect of bilateral cooperation is huge. China is a country with most population in the world, has a huge market and rich labor resources. And on the other hand, Austria is a country with developed economy, has advanced technology and abundant experiences in fields of steel, refinery, machinery, electronics, energy sources, environmental protection and tourism. I believe that depending on the economic complementarity and development potential and with the mutual efforts of governments and economic community of the two countries, the bilateral trade and economic cooperation will certainly go up to a new stage.
CCPIT and Austrian Federal Economic Chamber of Commerce held together the economic exhibition in China, which provided a platform for enterprises in the two countries to communicate and would certainly drive up further development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation. Wish the Meeting a great success and China-Austria Trade and Economic Cooperation a bright future!
(Source: Network Center of MOFCOM)
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