On the morning of March 24, Yin Li, Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, met with Joaquin Duato, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Johnson & Johnson (J&J), and Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, CEO of Temasek respectively.
During the meeting with Duato, Yin highlighted the dynamic scientific and technological innovation in Beijing, a city that hosts a vast number of basic research talents, labs, and new-type R&D institutes. With a pharmaceutical and healthcare industry valued at over $30 billion, Beijing has led the nation for years in the number of innovative medical devices approved. As J&J, a world-leading comprehensive healthcare company, expands its investment and presence in China, Yin emphasized the broad potential for cooperation between the company and the city. Yin encouraged J&J to remain confident in its development in Beijing and fully leverage the city’s "two zones" policies and strengths in innovation and clinical resources. He calls on J&J to join Beijing’s efforts in building the biomedical industry innovation ecosystem, and expand its R&D footprint and investment in frontier interdisciplinary fields such as AI, medical imaging, and digital healthcare. Yin also suggested that J&J grow its consumer goods business in Beijing and introduce more celebrated brands and products to support the city’s endeavor to build itself into an international consumption center. Yin reaffirmed Beijing’s commitment to further opening-up and creating a world-class business environment for companies in the city.
Duato fully recognized Beijing's thriving biomedical industry and its promising market prospects, noting that J&J would increase its R&D investment and work with Beijing to foster a biomedical innovation ecosystem, thereby contributing to the health and well-being of the Chinese people.
In his meeting with Dilhan, Yin said that the financial industry is the number one pillar industry in Beijing, accounting for nearly one-fifth of its GRP. As Beijing works to grow its high-end, precision and cutting-edge industries, it has fostered two industrial clusters, each with an annual output value of over one trillion yuan, with one centering on the new-generation information technology and the other on services for science and technology, as well as five industrial clusters, each with an annual output value of over 100 billion yuan, in the fields of energy conservation and environmental protection, and pharmaceuticals and health, among others. Now the digital economy accounts for 42% of the city's GRP. In recent years, Temasek has invested heavily in China, making the country its largest investment destination outside of Singapore. In particular, the company is stepping up investment in such areas as digitisation, sustainable living, future of consumption, and longer lifespans. There is enormous potential for mutually beneficial cooperation. Yin encouraged Temasek to be fully confident in expanding its investment and business in Beijing, and join Beijing’s efforts in building a global wealth management center by bringing more financial institutions and enterprises to the city. Beijing will support the development of all types of businesses with further improvement in its business environment and professional services.
Dilhan expressed that the Chinese market presents enormous development opportunities, and Temasek is more than willing to scale up its investment and work closely with Beijing in areas such as finance, healthcare, and the digital economy. It will also help attract more high-quality companies to Beijing and support Chinese businesses to go global and participate in international competition and cooperation.
Yu Yingjie, Vice Mayor of Beijing, attended the meetings.
(Written by: Fan Junsheng)
