Le Havre to host CHINA EUROPA 2006 business promotion convention

The CHINA EUROPA 2006 business convention will bring together over 400 Chinese and European companies from 6 to 8 December 2006 in Le Havre (in Normandy). The event, which is being held for the first time, is the first industrial business convention of this size in France. It will focus on several key sectors, including aerospace, electronics and logistics.

[ClickPress, Wed Oct 04 2006] CHINA EUROPA 2006 has selected industrial sectors corresponding to key, strategic areas of the world economy: aerospace / aeronautics, automotive, energy, plastics manufacturing, metal working, industrial goods, electronics, logistics and eco-industries. The convention aims to boost lasting and growing trade between the two markets, which in 2005 amounted to €209,786 million, making China the EU’s second most important trading partner.

More than 6,000 pre-arranged targeted meetings will be organised, helping European and Chinese companies to develop long-term trade relations with their partners. Already, three months before the convention opens, the aerospace, automotive and industrial-goods industries are widely represented among European and Chinese participants, closely followed by the electronics, plastics, metallurgy, energy, eco-industries and logistics sectors.

CHINA EUROPA 2006 also offers a three-day cycle of conferences and workshops, which will provide the legal, fiscal, economic and cultural information that is indispensable for the implementation of lasting partnerships, whether it is to sell, export, produce or invest, or for joint-ventures. These sessions will also focus on market trends in each industry sector.
CHINA EUROPA has received official support from both the French Ministry for Foreign Trade and the People's Republic of China's Ministry for Foreign Trade. This support underlines the bilateral character of the convention, which meets strong demand for long-lasting European and Chinese business partnerships.

Mr Antoine Rufenacht, Mayor of the port-city of Le Havre and President of Le Havre Développement (the regional economic development agency), says, “CHINA EUROPA reinforces the already strong links between Le Havre and China. Dalian, the largest port in northern China, is already twinned with the town of Le Havre.” He also thanks Mr Han Tiecheng, Minister Adviser for Economic and Commercial Affairs to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in France, for his participation and the active role he has played in organising CHINA EUROPA.

For Mr Gérard Mercher, Managing Director of Le Havre Développement, “The active support of the People’s Republic of China's Ministry for Trade gives CHINA EUROPA 2006, only nine months after its creation and three months before its inauguration, a real strategic dimension.”

Today, China is the biggest customer of the port of Le Havre, with 20% of total activity amounting to traffic to and from China. The port itself is the Number One French port for international trade and container traffic. With the Port 2000 investment programme, which will bring capacity to 4 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit), the port of Le Havre will be in a better position to rival the large North European ports on the seaborne trade market, which represents 80% of world trade. This development will also strengthen Le Havre in relation to maritime trade with China, which is expected to grow by 20% in the next few years.

Three months before the start of the business convention, the number of companies and delegations already registered confirms its wide appeal. The three most represented sectors at this stage are aerospace (65 registrations), automotive (80 registrations) and industrial goods (60 registrations). This is followed by electronics (35 registrations), metal working (55 registrations), energy (20 registrations), eco-industries and logistics.

Approximately 200 European companies have already registered, including AIR FRANCE INDUSTRIES, ASSYSTEM, CIAT, DAHER, DEFONTAINE, HCM, ORECA, PEUGEOT JAPY, ROYAL PHILIPS ELECTRONICS, SAINT GOBAIN SULLY, SIMAI, TYCO ELECTRONICS CORPORATION and WESTAFLEX AUTOMOTIVE GROUP. French companies represent only a small number of the European participants.

For China, several provincial delegations (such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang) representing more than 200 companies will be present, as well as delegations from the large industrial federations.

The business convention has become, in a few short years, an important operational tool for exporting companies, guaranteeing them a programme of meetings in a defined time-frame and place, and at a low cost. Today, it constitutes an irreplaceable channel for small- and medium-sized firms when they are first approaching a difficult market, such as China can be for European countries, and vice versa.
CHINA EUROPA 2006 was presented to the Chinese press in Beijing on 7 September 2006, during a press conference given by Mr Edouard Philippe, Assistant Mayor of Le Havre, and Mr Gérard Mercher, Managing Director of Le Havre Développement, in the presence of representatives from the French Embassy in China and the People's Republic of China's Ministry for Foreign Trade.

About CHINA EUROPA
CHINA EUROPA was established by Le Havre Développement as part of the region of Le Havre and Upper Normandy’s strategy of tackling major issues linked to globalisation, and to confirm the region’s paramount role as an industrial centre, a leading port and a large international logistics hub, more particularly with regard to trade with China.

CHINA EUROPA will be held from 6 to 8 December 2006 at the Docks Café exhibition and conference centre in Le Havre, in Normandy (in north-west France).
For further information, please go to: www.china-europa.org

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