International affairs
On August 14, 2017, the Chamber of Commerce of Luxembourg welcomed the official delegation of Henan Province, China, headed by H.E. Mr. Qing Shu, Vice-governor of the Province. The delegation was composed of 15 members, including the high officials such as the Director General of Zhengzhou Customs, the Deputy Director General of Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Henan Provincial People’s Government, and the Deputy Director General of Henan Provincial Department of Commerce; together with the officials, two state-owned companies also took part in the delegation, Henan Civil Aviation Development and Investment Co. (HNCA), and Henan Province Airport Group, led by their Chairman and President respectively.
The Director of International Affairs, Mr. Jeannot Erpelding, welcomed the delegation, and introduced the history and the missions of the Chamber of Commerce; Ms. Na Shi, Advisor at International Affairs, in charge of East-Asia, gave an overview of the Luxembourg economy and the Sino-Luxembourgish economic relationships, with a focus on the Chinese investment in the Grand-Duchy.
During his allocution, the Vice-Governor highly appreciated the successful collaboration between the Province and the Grand-Duchy, which has been initiated by the partnership between HNCA and Cargolux since 2014. He gave a comprehensive overview of the Province. Constituting the historic cradle of China, the province builds on more than 5000 years of history. Today, despite its late opening to the world compared to the coastal areas like Beijing, Shanghai and Canton (Guangzhou), Henan is an important province within the Chinese economy. It is the first agricultural province of China. Its food production caters to one fourth of the national need including 50% of the wheat, 50% of ham and sausages, and 70% of dumplings. Henan is also known as a province with advanced new industry and a strong cultural influence.
Located in central China, Henan is, as a matter of fact, the logistics hub for China. A three-dimensional integrated transport network, combining railway, highway and aviation, has been achieved, in order to connect the entire country.
As China's most populated province, Henan’s vast market shows an enormous development potential. In 2016, Henan province’s GDP was more than 4 trillion RMB ranking fifth of China, with a total value of imports of 187.9 billion RMB and exports of 285.5 billion RMB.
Within the framework of the ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative, Henan seizes an historic opportunity and plays an important role. During the visit of the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Mr. Xavier Bettel, to Henan in June 2017, the Chinese President Xi confirmed his support to build a ‘Zhengzhou – Luxembourg air silk road’. The establishment of the multimodal logistics network will serve as a basis and build a bridge for future trade and investment between Zhengzhou, China and Luxembourg, to connect Europe’s economies.
Mr. Erpelding emphasised the importance of the mutual trust. He thanked the Vice-governor as well as his province to consider Luxembourg as a loyal and premium partner in Europe. He also expressed his sincere thanks for the support that the Province will provide to the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, during the upcoming ‘Luxembourg Belt and Road mission’ to China in September, with Zhengzhou as the main destination. A Luxembourg – Zhengzhou seminar will be organised on September 13, followed by a B2B matchmaking event with companies from Luxembourg and Henan.
The Luxembourg delegation of 36 business people will also visit Zhengzhou airport cargo platform, Yutong Bus Co., as well as Henan Free trade zone, the only trade zone dedicated to cross-border E-commerce by the central Chinese government.
Following the meeting, the Chamber of Commerce and HNCA signed a Memorandum of Understanding. This bilateral cooperation foresees, for example, economic seminars, bi-annual matchmakings and other cooperation events.
The discussion continued during the lunch offered by the Chamber of Commerce to the Henan delegation. The development of the tourism sector in Luxembourg and in Henan was the main topic. The Vice-Governor was impressed by the hidden beauty of Luxembourg during his brief trip to Schengen. He ensured that Henan would not hesitate when it comes to promote Luxembourg as a touristic destination for Chinese people. He also mentioned the issue of the complicated visa application. The Embassy of Luxembourg in China is committed to deploying a mobile biometric fingerprint kit for the issuance of "Schengen visas” in Zhengzhou, as soon as direct commercial passenger flights between the airports of Zhengzhou and Luxembourg (currently under discussion) have been announced.
Several representatives of the Ministry of the Economy, Ministry of Sustainable development and infrastructure and Luxinnovation attended the meeting and the lunch.
The Vice-Governor praised the deep and long-lasting friendship between Henan and Luxembourg. A meeting with H.E. Mr. Claude Meisch, Minister of Education, Child and Youth and a visit of the Luxembourg Cargocenter and Cargolux Hanger were also part of the programme. In the evening, a dinner was hosted by H.E. Mr. Pierre Gramegna, Minister of Finance.
