CICC Suzhou Office Visited Kunshan Foreign Affairs Office and Investment Promotion & Service Center

Dear Members and Friends of CICC,

The China-Italy Chamber of Commerce (CICC) is glad to inform you that, on March 29th, 2021, the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce (CICC) Suzhou Office paid an official visit to Foreign Affairs Office of Kunshan Municipal Government, and Investment Promotion & Service Center of Kunshan.

Riccardo Campanile, CICC Board Member Suzhou, and Sarah Tian, CICC Suzhou Office Coordinator paid an official visit to Kunshan to build and enhance communication, to get more familiar with the business community in Kunshan, and to jointly taking care of CICC members, as well as other Italian companies that are located in Kunshan.

Mr. Campanile explained to Mr. Xu and his team that most Italian companies operating in Suzhou are SMEs and Ms. Tian made a short introduction of CICC.

Mr. Xu Jun, Director of Investment Promotion & Service Center of Kunshan introduced the business environment to CICC Suzhou Office. Kunshan, a county-level city favorably situated in the southeast of Jiangsu Province. It Is bordered by Shanghai to the East, Suzhou and Wujiang to the west, and Changshu and Taicang to the north/northeast. As of the end of 2019, there are over 8,600 foreign-invested enterprises based in Kunshan. Kunshan has formed a development pattern driven by four pillar industries: optoelectronics, semiconductors, RNAi, biomedicine, and smart manufacturing.

Mr. Xu told CICC that there are 29 Italian companies in Kunshan and there were two new Italian companies opened in Kunshan amid the COVID-19. Most Italian companies in Kunshan are manufacturers of general purpose machinery or manufacturers of special purpose machinery.

Mr. Xu shared with CICC Suzhou Office that, unlike many other cities now are facing the problem of shortage of blue collars, Kunshan set up many more vocational colleges years ago and these colleges cooperated with local enterprises ever since, hence the problem is less severe to them.

The meeting also discussed the possibility of setting up an Italian Industrial Park in Kunshan.

Zhu Liyuan, General Department Assistant Manager, Investment Promotion & Service Center of Kunshan also attended the meeting.

Lisa Jiang Xing, Vice Director, and Eve Yan, Deputy Director of the Development Research Center of Kunshan Municipal Government met with CICC Suzhou Office delegate.

Ms. Jiang introduced to CICC Suzhou Office that Kunshan built ties of sister cities with Viareggio, Toscana, Italy in 2005.

Lisa Jiang shared with CICC Suzhou Office that Kunshan organises Golden Autumn Business Promotions every Autumn to award domestic and international enterprises and entrepreneurs who made outstanding contributions to Kunshan's economic and social development, and to enhance exchange and communication and explore opportunities for cooperation. In recent years, Kunshan also organises a platform called “Kun Through the Expats’ Eyes” for expatriates living in Suzhou to help them know more about Kunshan's economic, social and cultural development, and provide them with a platform to communicate and exchange with others.

Both sides agreed to continue to communicate and cooperate such as jointly organising events to build bridges between Italy business community and the Chinese counterparts.

Billie Chu from the Foreign Affairs Office of Kunshan Municipal Government also attended the meeting.

Kind Regards,

CICC Team