Chairman Chen Song Put Forward Qingdao-Africa Production Capacity Cooperation Bill

---Chen Song takes part in the first plenary session of the 13th CPPCC Qingdao Committee

At 9 am of April 15, the first plenary session of the 13th Qingdao Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) was grandly opened at the People’s Hall in Qingdao. As a member of CPPCC Qingdao Committee, Chen Song, Chairman of Yewhing (H.K.) Holdings Co., Ltd., took part in the meeting.

On the morning of April 19, the first plenary session of the 13th Qingdao Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) was closed at the People’s Hall. Chairman of Yewhing (H.K.) Holdings Co., Ltd. Chen Song put forward a bill on promoting Qingdao-Africa production capacity cooperation.

 In the bill titled Promoting Qingdao-Africa Production Capacity Cooperation, Chen Song pointed out the production overcapacity in some industries remains severe in the city and urged Qingdao companies to better integrate themselves into the Belt and Road Initiative and boost global production capacity cooperation to solve the current problem.

 First, there’s great potential in Qingdao-Africa production capacity cooperation; Africa is the world’s least developed area in industrialization. The overcapacity in China is the capacity greatly needed in Africa. Premier Li Keqiang pointed out in May 2014 that by the year 2020 the trade volume between China and Africa will reach 400 billion dollars with Chinese direct investment volume hitting 100 billion dollars.

Second, China-Africa production capacity cooperation is faced with strategic opportunities. Boosting Qingdao-Africa production capacity cooperation does not just fit into the Belt and Road Initiative but also caters to the needs of industrialization in Africa and more importantly, will bring new life to the excessive but not outdated production capacity in Qingdao.

Chairman Chen Song put forward the following proposals:

1. The government should take the lead to guide and push forward such cooperation by optimizing and strengthening policies for production capacity cooperation support, building platforms for future cooperation and organizing delegations for on-site visits. Companies should be organized to conduct on-site visits to Africa; more African government agencies, institutions and companies should be invited to Qingdao for visit and promotion; specialized fairs for production capacity cooperation should be organized in various ways and from multiple channels; sister city relationships should be set up with African cities and inter-governmental agreements for cooperation signed to establish Qingdao industrial parks and Qingdao agricultural parks in a bid to urge more companies to go out to Africa by integrating industry clusters and industry chains.

2. The role of business councils or chambers of commerce should be given to full play in bridging governments, companies and markets to assist governments in promoting policies and companies in understanding African culture, laws, economic dynamics and polices, to bring together Africa-based Qingdao companies and compatriots, to assist Qingdao companies in seeking cooperation opportunities and projects by taking the chambers’ local role to our advantage and building a platform for Qingdao companies to develop in Africa.

3. Innovative models in financing should be explored to strengthen cooperation between banking sector and companies and facilitate integration of finance and industry. We should take full advantage of the policies of China Import & Export Credit Insurance Corporation in supporting Chinese companies to go out, transform related financial subsidies from the government into seed funds, introduce the China-Africa Development Fund and the China-Africa Fund for Production Capacity Cooperation and encourage more private capital to participate in setting up specialized industrial investment fund to provide one-stop financial support for production capacity cooperation through investment and loan linkage mechanism.

4. Cultivating international talents should be included in the talent development strategic plan of Qingdao to further boost the building of the international human resources system. First, to encourage and support cooperation between colleges and companies to cultivate foreign work related talent, to boost higher education institutions and vocational schools to explore and innovate the talent cultivation mechanism; second, to extensively introduce African students to Qingdao, offer subsidies, and push forward talents exchanges and talent localization; third, sort through legal issues concerning contracts for dispatched labor and dispatching procedures and deal with the blind spots in policies related to dispatched labor to clear obstacles for companies in dispatching labor; fourth, offer human resources training support to companies operating in foreign countries, help companies avoid detours and elevate the image of overseas nationals.