Frank Xu: “Measures to lower the barriers for investment”

Frank Xu, director of CiiPa, on the benefits of German-sino cluster cooperation in challenging times.

Since 2017, the Frankfurt-based investment agency CIIPA has been presenting itself at HANNOVER MESSE – in each case together with several industrial locations in the People‘s Republic of China.

Mr. Xu, in these difficult times for the global economy, what are your expectations for HANNOVER MESSE?

Since 2016, we have organized the “Invest in China” event series for four years at Hannover Messe. We are very pleased that the fair can be held again this year. In times of a changing international environment, we think, these direct meetings and exchanges are invaluable.

What are the key issues where you expect cooperative relations to deepen?

Sino-German cooperation is based on complementary strengths and is mutually beneficial. In the future, China will focus on intelligent manufacturing and accelerate the digitalization, connectivity and smart transformation of the manufacturing industry. At the same time, we are taking practical measures to further open up and lower the entry barriers for foreign investment. We expect more outstanding German industrial enterprises to enter China and combine German cutting-edge technology concepts with China’s production capacity.

How is CIIPA supporting this process?

Since 2017, we have been actively cooperating with more than 20 German partners in the sectors automotive, smart manufacturing and life sciences, to build industry-oriented and demand-driven working groups, to carry out practical cooperation through group visits, forums and project matching. Through this, we have effectively provided beneficial conditions for new cooperation between German and Chinese enterprises.

What role do SMEs play in their greatly expanded cooperation with regional and industry clusters?

The healthy development of SMEs is of the utmost importance to achieve high-quality economic development and further move forward economically. Therefore, SMEs play a core role in our joint work with our German partners and we see it as our main task to support them in their international efforts.