Representatives from three states in America, namely Michigan, California and South Carolina, were seeking investments from Shenzhen companies at a forum Friday.
The Select USA Seminar was jointly organized by Shenzhen Sub-council of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou under the U.S.-China Corporate Match-Making Project framework signed in2005.
At the seminar, Cao Zining, a representative from Michigan-China Innovation Center, introduced projects involving advanced manufacturing, driverless driving, IoT, aviation and agriculture to more than50 local enterprise representatives attending the forum.
“So far, more than300 enterprises from China have invested a total of US$4 billion in Michigan, and China became Michigan’s largest export market with the increase in volume from US$284 million to US$3.67 billion in2017,” said Cao.
Michigan is known for its automobile industry, but it isn’t limited to that, according to Cao, who also hopes to see investment and cooperation in agriculture and food manufacturing, tourism and intelligent transportation.
California has attracted452 Chinese companies and US$8 billion in investment from China since2000. Wang Yueying, director of operations at the trade and education office of Sacramento, capital city of California, hopes Shenzhen enterprises will be interested in the city’s agriculture and agricultural trade, medical science, high-tech, clean energy and education projects. Wang brought a list of three projects for Sacramento, namely an international high school construction project, a joint research and development project for Aggie Square and the second hospital on the Sacramento campus of University of California, Davis.
In2017, Chinese investment in the U.S. reached US$73 billion and the amount of investment from South China is growing rapidly, according to Jim Levy, American consul general in Guangzhou. Levy said Shenzhen-based BYD invested a total of US$53 million to increase its production and warehouse capacity for battery-electric buses in Lancaster.
The Lancaster base can produce up to1,500 electric buses a year and employs more than820 workers. Since2013, BYD has invested more than US$250 million in the American market.
U.S.-China Corporate Match-Making Project has established offices in18 cities in China and completed a total of500 trade and investment projects.