An India China-Changzhou Business Seminar was organized by the Consulate General of India (CGI) in association with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Changzhou Municipal Foreign Affairs Office (FAO), and ForeignTrade Economic Cooperation Bureau (FTECB) at Changzhou (Jiangsu Province) on 01 December 2009. 

Consul General Mrs. Riva Ganguly Das led one of the largest multi-sector Indian business delegation to Changzhou in Jiangsu Province. Senior executives of leading Indian companies & banks from the Eastern China Region including Axis Bank, Canara Bank, State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, BEML Limited, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Essar Global, Mi-Ace CNC Machinery Trading Company , Nanjing TATA Autocomp Systems Limited (NTACO), Asiatic Color-Chem Limited , TKM Logistics Company Limited, Infosys, NIIT ,Mahindra Satyam, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories & Piramal Healthcare Limited were part of the delegation.

Conveying a signal of unequivocal support, the delegation was warmly received by Deputy Secretary of Changzhou Municipal Committee of the CPC Mr. Zhou Hongguo and hosted by Municipal Government of Changzhou.  Mr. Zhou Hongguo conveyed the strong interest of the Changzhou Municipal Government in deepening multifaceted cooperation with India.   Consul General expressed hope that the Seminar will result in greater business links between Indian & Changzhou based Chinese companies.

In his opening address, Vice Mayor of Changzhou Mr. Gao Qing, said that the joint initiative offered a unique opportunity to Changzhou to engage India even more closely and assured Indian companies of the Municipal Government’s unstinted support. Consul General Mrs. Riva Ganguly Das  called for identifying specific new projects and developing success stories, delineating the sectors in which India and Changzhou could cooperate. She called on Changzhou companies to take advantage of the excellent investment climate in India. Mr. E B Rajesh of CII gave a detailed presentation on India’s economic strengths & the opportunities for Chinese companies in India. Select Indian companies made presentations on Engineering, Automobile & Auto components, Pharmaceutical & Chemical, IT and Financial Sector.

Changzhou has been at the forefront of Jiangsu’s economic development. With a GDP of US$ 32.2 billion, it is seen as one of India’s important partners in the Province. It has a strong foundation in core industries such as equipment manufacturing including rail transportation equipment, auto parts & components, Construction machinery, agricultural machinery, power transforming & transmission equipment, machine tools, Electronics & IT, New materials, new energy, textiles & pharmaceuticals.           

A MoU of cooperation for exchange of delegation and promotion of closer business linkages was also concluded between Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) & Changzhou Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation Bureau (FTECB).
The exercise was aimed at providing Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs with a platform to forge new business alliances in engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, auto-components, IT and financial services sectors, as well as promote two-way investments. More than 30 Changzhou based companies besides government officials and media representatives participated in the Seminar. One-on-one meetings between Indian and Changzhou based companies were arranged. The delegation also visited the Changzhou National High Tech Development Park. Several business leads emerged during the event.