China’s Qinzhou City wants to attract Filipino firms

QINZHOU, China — The local government of this city wants to attract Filipino companies to do business with local enterprises here to have stronger economic ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Qinzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce director Song Jianyuan is optimistic that the exchange of business missions between Qinzhou firms and Filipino companies would soon bear fruit because both parties have expressed interest in collaboration.

“There has been no actual investments made (by Filipino companies here). We believe in the future, there will be a lot of cooperation concerning this aspect because the enterprises of both sides are very interested in each other,” he said.

Last year, the city government organized a business mission to the Philippines for Qinzhou enterprises to learn about investment opportunities in the country.

Businesses from the Philippines have also visited Qinzhou to scout for opportunities.

The move to attract Filipino firms to do business with Qinzhou enterprises despite a territorial dispute between China and the Philippines over the West Philippine Sea, is part of efforts of the local government to have stronger economies ties with the ASEAN.

Song said investing in Qinzhou will be beneficial for ASEAN firms including the Filipino companies, because of the city’s location and incentives provided to investors.

Qinzhou, which is located in the southern part of China, has the closest free trade port to the ASEAN.

The Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area, accessible to businesses from the Southeast Asian region is being developed to become a logistics hub and export processing base for the China-ASEAN cooperation.

The China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park, which is adjacent to the Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area, is designed to serve as a hub of modern manufacturing industries and information technology.

Apart from the geographical location of Qinzhou, Song said companies that invest in the industrial parks will also be able to enjoy incentives such as tax rebates.

“Favorable policies are open to all investors from other countries but we especially want to work with our counterparts from the ASEAN countries because the position of Qinzhou is to be close with the ASEAN countries and to be a platform for win-win cooperation,” he said.

Last year, trade between Qinzhou and ASEAN hit $1.301 billion, up 19.8 percent from 2011.