China Updates Catalogue of Industries for Encouraging Foreign Investment

Issuing Authority: NDRC 

Date of Issuance: December 28, 2020

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce released on December 28, 2020 the Catalogue of Industries for Encouraging Foreign Investment (2020 Version). The new catalogue will be implemented from January 27, 2020, when the 2019 version of the catalogue will be revoked. The new catalogue has added 127 items and revised 88 items to expand the scope of industries that encourage foreign investment. Under the new catalogue, foreign companies are encouraged to invest in production services, like 5G telecommunication technology, blockchain technology, and the design of sewage treatment facilities. Foreign companies are also encouraged to invest in central and western provinces, as well as in agricultural product processing and tourism development in Heilongjiang and Yunnan.

Reference: https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/xxgk/zcfb/fzggwl/202012/t20201228_1260594.html

NDRC and MOFCOM Release Measures for Security Review of Foreign Investments

Issuing Authority: MOFCOM

Date of Issuance: December 21, 2020

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce released on December 19, 2020 the Measures for Security Review of Foreign Investments, to be implemented 30 days after the date of issuance. The regulation has 23 articles about the type of foreign investments to be subject to security review, the institutions, scope and procedures of security review, as well as how to deal with unlawful investment activities. The regulation aims to enhance the accuracy and transparency of security review, reduce the impact on foreign investment activities and protect foreign investors’ legitimate interests. According to the regulation, China will establish a work mechanism to review the security of  foreign investments; the work mechanism will be spearheaded by the NDRC and the MOFCOM.

Reference: http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/article/zwgk/zcfb/202012/20201203024662.shtml

Follow Weihai City – Shandong Province on LinkedIn and learn more about its business-friendly investment environment. (https://bit.ly/3jQN7p1)

Weihai is positioned on the eastern tip of China’s third-largest province, Shandong. It faces Korea and Japan across the sea and has 2.8 million inhabitants.

Many foreign companies, such as Bekaert, Beaulieu, and Marquardt, already have major investments in Weihai. They have benefitted from the city’s very business-friendly investment environment. The city has established several pillar industries, including machinery, food, transportation equipment, textiles and garments, medicine and medical devices, electronics, and new materials. The emerging industries of Weihai are medical & healthcare, information & outsourcing, and “intelligent” manufacturing.

Over the past 10 years, the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce and the Weihai Foreign Investment Bureau have formed a strong bond to help build and then strengthen trade relations between both sides and to introduce each other’s investment environments.

The China Platform at Ghent University is announcing the publication of a new book “A Belgian Passage to China (1870-1930) and expo “Souvenirs de Chine: the Story of Belgian Engineers and Doctors in China, 1905-1908”.

The book was edited by Johan J. Mattelaer and Mathieu Torck in collaboration with Charles Lagrange, Roland Dussart-Desart, Patrick Maselis and Thomas Baert. The book contains unique and never before published documents, letters and photos.

Between 1870 and 1914, Belgium – at that time one of the major financial and industrial powers – and its engineers financed, built and operated hundreds of kilometers of train and tram lines across the five continents. The Western sense of superiority and King Leopold II’s colonial ambitions were the main driving forces behind these enterprises. In China, this adventure materialized in the construction of the railway line between Beijing and Hankou and a tram network in Tianjin.

A Belgian Passage to China (1870-1930) brings a forgotten episode of Belgium’s overseas history into the limelight. It highlights two projects. François Nuyens left Ghent for the city of Tianjin in 1905 where he built a power station and a tram network. In a well-documented diary Nuyens writes down his impressions of his stay in China between 1905 and 1908.

Brothers Philippe and Adolphe Spruyt, both of them doctors, travelled to China to oversee the medical service at the railway construction yards between Beijing and Hankou. They returned with suitcases full of Chinese antiquities. Their interesting correspondence and more than 1,200 photographic glass plates offer a unique glimpse into the daily life of China at the beginning of the 20th century.

Dr. Johan J. Mattelaer is urologist. With Sterck & De Vreese he published Roma intima. Liefde, lijf en lust (Roma intima. Love, body and lust). Mathieu Torck (PhD) is lecturer at Ghent University (Department of Languages and Cultures – Chinese Studies) and postdoctoral researcher at the Catholic University of Leuven (History Research Unit).

Contact: johan.mattelaer@skynet.be , Mathieu.Torck@UGent.be

Apart from the publication of this book, the Expo “Souvenirs de Chine: the story of Belgian engineers and doctors in China 1898-1908” will be organized from 15 October until 14 November 2020 in Paviljoen Vanhove in cooperation with STAM (Ghent City Museum).

More information about this exposition is available on this website.

ExeVir Bio announced a first closing of a €23 million Series A financing led by Fund+, with the participation of VIB, UCB Ventures, the Belgian Federal Government via SFPI-FPIM, V-Bio Ventures and several Belgian family offices. ExeVir Bio has been established by Belgian partners combining world class science, antibody engineering, manufacturing, blue-chip venture capital investment and Flemish Government financing, which have joined forces in a unique collaboration to boost the development of new therapies to combat Covid-19.

ExeVir Bio, a spin out of VIB, the world-leading Belgium-based life sciences research institute, is harnessing its Llama-derived antibody (VHH) technology platform to generate robust antiviral therapies providing broad protection against coronaviruses. After early pre-financing by the Flemish Government, UCB, a multinational biopharmaceutical company, assisted in the generation of the lead candidate and is producing the GMP batches for clinical trials. Fund+, a leading Life Sciences-focused investment firm in Belgium, led the financing and was instrumental in setting up ExeVir Bio.

ExeVir Bio is using a highly innovative and clinically validated VHH technology to develop treatments for viral infections that may pose a significant global threat.

Lead asset VHH72-Fc binds to a unique epitope that is conserved in SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 viruses and this binding prevents these viruses from entering the cell. The importance of this approach is that it could be used both as a therapeutic and prophylactic.

Therapeutic use could help slow viral replication in the lungs, reduce inflammation, and give patients valuable time to raise their own productive immune response. Prophylactic use could support the ringfencing of an outbreak, protect healthcare workers, and support those at increased risk of severe illness from Covid-19.

Torsten Mummenbrauer, CEO of ExeVir Bio, said: “We are committed to the international effort against Covid-19 to support healthcare systems and to offer global access to our new treatment. With this Series A financing we can rapidly advance the development of our lead compound into clinical studies by the end of the year. We are confident our Llama-derived antibodies hold a key to saving the lives of patients who can become seriously ill with coronavirus.”

The technology platform was developed by VIB-UGent scientists, Professors Xavier Saelens and Nico Callewaert with the help of VIB’s drug discovery team at VIB Discovery Sciences, and national and international scientific collaborators. The team has shown that Llama-derived single-domain antibodies can neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in preclinical studies and SARS-CoV-1 in in vitro assays. As Llama antibodies are smaller than human antibodies, they can attach to parts of the coronavirus that would otherwise be inaccessible. The antibodies were derived from a Llama called ‘Winter’. A paper on the platform was published on 28 May 2020 in the journal Cell, on ‘Structural Basis for Potent Neutralization of Betacoronaviruses by Single-Domain Camelid Antibodies’ by Wrapp et al. .

Philippe Monteyne, Partner at Fund+, said: “Our mission is to contribute to Belgium’s leadership position in the Life Sciences sector and to generate a tangible, beneficial impact on society. ExeVir Bio fits both of these goals; it has been founded on world class science, with an excellent management team, a global pharmaceutical partner to develop the clinical trial material, and financing to accelerate the development of this promising therapeutic approach to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The ExeVir Bio team will focus on ultra-fast implementation of this promising research to develop novel treatments with broad protection against coronaviruses. We are confident that they will be the leader in antibody-derived therapies against a broad range of viral infections.”

Jérôme Van Biervliet, Managing Director, VIB, said: “VIB-UGent scientists, Xavier Saelens and Nico Callewaert and their team members, and our early drug discovery capability at VIB Discovery Sciences, have been leading a massive effort to identify safe and effective new treatments in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. This is a great example of how the top science and entrepreneurial approach at VIB makes a significant societal contribution in partnership with companies and dedicated investors.”

Dhaval Patel, Chief Science Officer, UCB said: “UCB is focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions. We are proud to be part of this great example of science, industry and finance collaborating at a very fast pace to develop a novel treatment for Covid-19.”

Minister Crevits, Deputy Prime Minister of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Science and Innovation, said: “Belgium is at the fore-front of cutting edge research, innovation and science, with a highly developed life sciences industry and a deep pool of capital that is available to develop promising, potentially life-saving treatments. At the early stage of this crisis, we quickly decided to support VIB in its search for a treatment for Covid-19. As a result, an important first step has now been taken to develop this treatment on a worldwide scale. We are very proud to support VIB and our researchers in their efforts against Covid-19.”

Koenraad van Loo, Managing Director of FPIM, said: “The Federal Holding and Investment Company is excited to participate in this unique antibody concept for potential treatment and prevention of Covid-19. As public investor, we very much care about the health, well-being and job security of our citizens. Therefore, together with our Life Sciences funds, Fund+ and V-Bio, we are committed to play an active role in managing the current health care crisis. FPIM is convinced that ExeVir’s powerful platform technology based on camelid antibodies deserves a special place among the numerous initiatives taken and can lay the foundations for a successful therapy to combat future pandemics.”

Torsten Mummenbrauer, CEO of ExeVir Bio, Philippe Monteyne, Partner at Fund+, Erica Whittaker, Head of UCB Ventures, Jérôme Van Biervliet, Managing Director, VIB and Katja Rosenkranz, Partner at V-Bio (observer) will join the Board of ExeVir Bio. Further board appointments will be announced in the future.=

For further information
Prof. Nico Callewaert and Prof. Xavier Saelens
Department of Biochemistry and microbiology
nico.callewaert@ugent.be / xavier.saelens@ugent.be

The University of Ghent is ranked 14th globally in agricultural sciences. There are also five Chinese Universities in the Top 20, led by the China Agricultural University. The ranking of the Top 500 universities in the agricultural sciences is available here.