On July 17, a special edition of Reference News published a report entitled "Meeting Held Online to Help Foreign Companies Resume Operation", introducing how the Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing Municipal Government has leveraged its platforms and resources to adopt a new model of international exchanges during the ongoing fight against COVID-19. The Foreign Affairs Office has innovatively used video conferencing to promote international exchanges and help foreign companies reopen for business. This has played an important role in boosting the confidence of the international business community, stabilizing foreign trade in Beijing, and ensuring the stability of the supply chains for major projects.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many countries have adopted strict border control and infection prevention and control measures, including fully or partially suspending incoming flights, which has curbed the movement of people and posed a serious challenge to transnational business activities and international economic cooperation. The epidemic has disrupted global value chains, increased the uncertainty of logistics and transportation, and affected the operation and development of many industries.
The Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing has leveraged its platforms and resources to adopt a new model of international exchanges during the ongoing fight against COVID-19. It has innovatively used video conferencing to boost the confidence of the international business community, stabilize foreign trade in Beijing, and ensure the stability of the supply chains for major projects.
Promote high-level dialogue and boost confidence in economy
Cai Qi meets with Chairman of the Swiss company ABB Group, pledging better services for foreign companies and investors.
The Universal Beijing Resort is the largest foreign-funded project in Beijing as well as a major project in the Beijing City Sub-center, Beijing Benz is a major joint venture in the city, and ABB Group is a global leader in industrial digitalization. Since May, in order to help these leading foreign companies resume operation and minimize the impact of the epidemic, Cai Qi, Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, has held video meetings with heads of multinationals, including Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of the American company Comcast Group, Thomas L. Williams, Chairman and CEO of Universal Parks & Resorts (UPR), Ola K?llenius, Chairman of Daimler AG, and Peter Voser, Chairman of ABB Group.
At the virtual meetings, the participants saw the real-time videos of production lines of Beijing Benz and ABB Group's Beijing operations. The production lines were running smoothly, and the workers on the site were wearing masks. These greatly boosted the confidence of the foreign executives.
This year, Beijing will further open up its economy and continuously improve the business environment. Multinationals are welcome to invest and grow their business in Beijing.
The virtual meetings have not only cemented the ties between the two sides, but also boosted the confidence of foreign businesses. Ola K?llenius, Chairman of Daimler AG, expressed his confidence in China which has taken the lead around the world in reopening businesses and in market recovery. Noting the crucial importance of Beijing and China at large for Daimler's future development, he said in the next step, Daimler will increase investment in vehicle electrification, expand exports from its Beijing manufacturing facilities and invest more heavily in R&D in China.
Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts said, Comcast Group will expand investment in Beijing and actively participate in the preparation for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and in the development of the city's sub-center.
Chairman Peter Voser said, ABB Group is committed to pursuing long-term development in China and promoting the localization of products and technologies. The company is willing to work with China to maintain the security and stability of the value chain and the supply chain.
The representative of the Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing said that the high-level virtual meetings played a very important role in releasing positive signals, encouraging more foreign companies to resume operation, boosting the confidence of the international business community, and maintaining the stability of the industry chains and supply chains.
Solve difficulties and stabilize investment expectations
On the basis of in-depth investigations and surveys conducted to solicit opinions from stakeholders, the Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing has formulated a work plan for virtual meetings, setting out the goals, content, targets, and methods of international exchanges and laying a solid foundation for online communication.
Different from courtesy calls, these virtual meetings have been centered on the theme of ensuring stability on the six fronts and security in the six areas, improving the stability of China's industrial chains and supply chains, and keeping the fundamentals of the economy stable.
The Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing has also communicated with foreign companies through virtual meetings on problems related to the supply of anti-epidemic materials, parts and components, fulfillment of purchase orders, international logistics and transportation, and the return of foreign executives, experts and their families to Beijing, and worked with relevant departments to help the companies solve these problems promptly.
After construction resumed in early February this year, the Universal Beijing Resort Project faced a shortage of construction materials. Thanks to the coordination of the Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing, in just 20 days, all 434 construction material suppliers of the project resumed production, effectively ensuring the supply to the project.
President and General Manager of the Universal Beijing Resort Tom Mehrmann said, thanks to the great support it has received, the project has been able to resume construction during the epidemic. Mr. Mehrmann remains confident in China's economy and tourism industry.
After learning that ABB's production has returned to the level before the epidemic but the company still faced many problems, including instability and uncertainty in the supply chain and export market and a significant increase in international logistics costs, officials of the Beijing Municipal Government expressed the hope that ABB could increase the production of key parts and components in China, strategically design its supply chain in Beijing, and expand its business in the Chinese market. The relevant departments of Beijing will provide support in effectively addressing their problems.
With the strong support of the government at various levels, all branches of ABB Group in Beijing resumed operation on February 10. At the same time, benefiting from a series of relief and burden reduction policies the city has released, their cash flow burden has been greatly reduced. The Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing has also rendered support in the flow of personnel. It helped foreign managers of ABB Group and their families complete the required procedures for returning to Beijing through the fast track.
After the outbreak of COVID-19 in Germany, Beijing promptly donated masks to Daimler AG, and helped the company purchase anti-epidemic supplies. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing and BAIC Group have also rendered help to facilitate the return of Daimler AG's foreign executives, experts and their families to Beijing.
Hubertus Troska, Chairman of Daimler AG's business in China, said that since early February, the company has actively responded to the call of the Chinese government to resume operation in an orderly manner under the premise of ensuring the health and safety of its employees. He noted the Chinese auto market is recovering thanks to China's effective disease prevention and control measures.
Keep advancing international exchanges and promote the resumption of work and production
A virtual meeting connecting participants in the world's four cities is held in a meeting room of the Beijing Municipal Government.
With the help of virtual meetings, Beijing, as a center for international exchanges, is able to keep advancing its foreign relations, to explore new ways to attract investors while creating a stable and comfortable environment for them, and to facilitate the steady resumption of work and production.
Virtual meetings also allow the municipal government leaders to obtain advice from international exerts. On the evening of May 14, a virtual meeting involving four cities around the world took place at a meeting room of the Beijing Municipal Government. This is the first time that the Beijing International Lecture has been presented via video link. That night, a team of experts from Deloitte UK was invited to give a special lecture on the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on global value chains and supply chains and the countermeasures.
Before the meeting, the Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing and the expert team of Deloitte UK discussed and studied the topics of the lecture, concerning finance, technology, automobiles, healthcare, and other important industries in Beijing, and organized simulation exercises, effectively improving the relevance and effectiveness of the lecture.
On June 16, Beijing and the City of London held an online conference on asset management. More than 100 people from more than 80 Chinese and British financial institutions attended the event. Beijing Guidebook for Overseas Asset Management Institutions (in Chinese and English) was released, introducing policies designed to attract foreign financial institutions and investors and to inject new impetus into the economy during the epidemic.
Virtual meetings have also helped Beijing heat up its interactions with its sister cities. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the sister city relationship between Beijing and Moscow. In order to promote local-level exchanges with Russia, on June 18, the Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing and the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow held a virtual meeting to exchange views on cooperation between the two cities in the second half of the year.
"It is the first time for the Beijing Municipal Government to hold an international conference online. We have encountered many unexpected problems. The government departments have worked closely together to ensure the success of the event," said a representative of the Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing. He further noted, the next step of the Foreign Affairs Office will be to summarize its experience in implementing virtual meetings, and promote cooperation in various fields and the application of research results. As per the requirement of ensuring stability on the six fronts and security in the six areas, the Foreign Affairs Office will select a group of foreign-funded companies, including both some Top 500 companies' Beijing subsidiaries and SMEs with development potential, and help them resume operation on the basis of a clear understanding of the companies' background, specific needs and opinions from government departments and districts concerned.
