From left to right: Antwerp Mayor Bart De Wever; FCCC Chairman Stefaan Vanhooren

The city of Antwerp organized a mission to Shanghai from December 14 till 17, 2016, headed by Mayor Bart De Wever. The FCCC was represented by Mr Stefaan Vanhooren, Chairman and Ms Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director. The mission also included about 70 business people.
Mission motivation:

The City Council of Antwerp places great importance in supporting Antwerp enterprises abroad. In light of this, they cooperated with their partners in organizing a 2016 joint mission to two leading cities in the Asian region: Seoul and our sister city Shanghai. The delegation consisted of members of the city council, Port of Antwerp, Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) and a broad group of corporate leaders. The mission was actively supported by the local Belgian embassies and consulates, and enjoyed the cooperation of Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT).

The first stop was Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea, followed by Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. Antwerp and Shanghai are sister cities and have so far enjoyed 32 years of close cooperation. Shanghai tops the global port ranking, making it an attractive partner for Antwerp, the second most important European port. China, with Shanghai in particular, is an important diamond market. Promoting our region abroad can also be of great value to the Antwerp chemical industry, allowing it to attract additional investors.

Visit to Huawei

Mission report:

After arriving in Shanghai, the Port of Antwerp invited major shipping companies, freight forwarders and shippers located in Shanghai to an exclusive boat tour on Shanghai’s Huangpu river, followed by a networking dinner. The following day B2B meetings were organized for the participants by Flanders Investment & Trade. A visit to a local school was organized to gain insights into China’s educational system. The AWDC invited its partners to visit the Shanghai Diamond Exchange and the HRD Antwerp ‘Centre of Excellence’ Shanghai, while the Port of Antwerp organized a visit to the headquarters of the China Ocean Shipping Co (COSCO), the largest dry bulk and liner carrier in China. In the afternoon, the seminar ‘Antwerp, a great European port city where innovation meets business’ took place. The seminar was focused on digital innovation and the circular economy, two core elements of the booming new Antwerp economy. A dinner, and a concert by the Royal Flemish Philharmonic concluded the day.

December 16 started with the FCCC breakfast seminar ‘Doing Business with a New China’ (see below). More B2B meetings were organized for interested participants. The City Economy Coordination Council gave a presentation, followed by the signing of an MOU between the Antwerp Management School and the Donghua Business School, and a visit to Tech50 in Nanxiang town (Jiading district), one of the first high-tech incubators in Shanghai. A visit to the China Maritime Museum (CMM) was also organized, were junk models from the Antwerp MAS Museum were loaned to CMM. Some mission participants also visited the Huawei R&D center in Pudong. A reception at the Belgian Consulate-General in Shanghai concluded the mission.

The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce (FCCC) took part in the Antwerp Mission to Shanghai. During this mission, the FCCC organized a breakfast meeting focused on “Better Understanding and Negotiating with the Chinese”. This breakfast meeting took place on 16 December at the Regal International East Asia Hotel where the delegation was staying.

The FCCC was represented by Mr Stefaan Vanhooren, Chairman and Ms Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director.

Mr Stefaan Vanhooren, Chairman, Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the participants and introduced Prof Ji Bo, Assistant Dean of Global Executive Education, Chief Representative for Europe, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, who gave a presentation on “Better Understanding and Negotiating with the Chinese”. This was followed by a questions and answers session. This event was only open to participants to the mission.
About the speaker:
Prof Ji Bo, Assistant Dean of Global Executive Education, Chief Representative for Europe, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business

Bo has been teaching EMBA/MBA at some of the world’s most prestigious business schools such as INSEAD, Esade, MIT, New York University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Technology University of Munich, Tsinghua University, CKGSB, Zhejiang University, Sun Yat-Sen University, Shanghai Jiaotong University etc.  In addition Bo also offers advice to Chairmen and CEO’s. He is also a frequent speaker at renowned international conferences, forums, TV media and annual corporate meetings.

From left to right: Mayor Bart De Wever, Ms Gwenn Sonck, Mr Stefaan Vanhooren, Mr Ji Bo

We have the pleasure to inform you that Mr Jochum S. Haakma, has been elected Chairman of the EU-China Business Association. This was decided at the Extra-Ordinary Assembly of EUCBA, which took place on 8 December in Brussels.

Mr Haakma is a lawyer, former career diplomat and an expert in a.o. the field of trade and investment promotion. He was from 1978 assigned to a number of Dutch Embassies abroad (Rome, Lusaka, Bonn). From 1997 until 2002 he served as Consul-General in Hong Kong/Macao and from 2002 until 2006 as Consul-General in Shanghai. In 2006 he was appointed Managing Director of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency. In September 2007 he moved to the private sector and was appointed Global Executive Director Business Development of the TMF Group BV in Amsterdam. Mr Jochum Haakma is also in the Board of several business organisations and Chairman of the Executive Board of the Netherlands Council (NCH) for Trade Promotion, Chairman of the China Business Council of the NCH. Mr Stephen Phillips, Chief Executive of the China-Britain Business Council has stepped down as Chairman of EUCBA. The members thanked Mr Phillips for his work over the last decade.

The FCCC plays a leading role in the EU-China Business Association. Mr Philippe Van der Donckt, Business Development Director Asia at Umicore, Vice-Chairman FCCC takes up the Vice-Chairmanship of EUCBA, while Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director FCCC, takes up the role as secretary general of EUCBA.

Shares of U.S. automakers General Motors and Ford Motor dropped after Zhang Handong, Director of the National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) Price Supervision Bureau warned the government could slap a penalty on an unnamed U.S. automaker for monopolistic behavior. In a statement, GM did not say directly whether it was under investigation by Chinese authorities. “GM fully respects local laws and regulations wherever we operate,” the company said. “We do not comment on media speculation.” A spokesman for Ford’s Asia-Pacific operations said the company was “unaware of the issue.” The China Daily said investigators had found that a U.S. auto company had instructed distributors to fix prices starting in 2014. China, the world’s largest vehicle market, is crucial to GM. Chinese consumers bought more than one-third of the 9.96 million vehicles GM sold globally in 2015. Profits from Chinese operations, including joint ventures, accounted for about 20% of GM’s global net income of USD9.7 billion in 2015. Ford’s China joint ventures represented about 16% of its global pretax profit of USD9.4 billion in 2015.

Hong Kong slipped out of a list of the 10 most expensive cities in the world for expats, but it is still a costly place to live compared to five years ago, according to the latest survey by international human resources consultancy ECA International. The study ranked Hong Kong as the 11th most expensive location for expats, down two spots from last year. In the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong placed fifth, also two places lower than in 2015. The drop in ranking was attributed to the strength of the Japanese yen. Nevertheless, Hong Kong is still expensive. A pint of beer costs USD12.29 in Hong Kong but USD8.71 in London, while a medium cappuccino costs on average USD5.03 in Hong Kong but USD3.36 in Sydney. “Over the past five years, Hong Kong has generally risen in the ECA global rankings, from 60th in 2011, up 49 places to 11th in 2016,” Lee Quane, Asia Regional Director for ECA International, said. Japan is the most expensive country for overseas employees. Four Japanese cities made the top 10, with Tokyo taking the number one spot, up from 12th place in 2015. Among mainland Chinese cities, Shanghai took the highest spot at 13th globally, and seventh in the Asia-Pacific region. Singapore placed 16th globally, making it more attractive than Hong Kong for companies hiring expatriates.