On June 11, 2021 the international Webinar "Green Silk Road to SinePark: attraction of international talents and business projects" was held in conjunction with the closing of the Zhejiang International Import Commodity Fair, of China-Central & Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Ningbo Expo and with the opening of the G7 Summit.
The webinar was co-organized by Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Sino-Italy Ningbo Ecological Park (SinePark), Silk Council Association and Dong & Partners International Law Firm, with the support of the media partner Chinese Headline New Media, with the aim to promote some opportunities for commercial, industrial, financial and scientific cooperation in the context of the New Silk Road and green and eco-sustainable technologies. Hence the reference to the Green Silk Road.
In 2019 Yuyao Municipal People's Government, Sino-Italy Ningbo Ecological Park, Yuyao Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Investment Promotion Center of Yuyao Municipal People's Government and Foreign Affairs Office of Yuyao Municipal People's Government jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Silk Council and Dong & Partners to promote international cooperation between China and Europe and in particular between China and Italy. With this webinar that agreement was put into practice, with the intention of creating a bridge between East and West and to create as many synergies as possible between European, Italian and Chinese actors for the good of the entire international community.
The webinar began with an opening speech by Avv. Lifang Dong, President of the Silk Council Association and Founder Managing Partner of the Dong & Partners International Law Firm, who recalled the need to rethink international cooperation in terms of multilateralism to face today's global challenges together, such as climate change. Avv. Dong also highlighted how this need has been acknowledged by international political leaders, taking for example the program of the Italian Presidency of the G20, the European Green Deal and the Chinese Ecological Civilization concept. Avv. Dong also provided an overview of China-Europe and China-Italy relations. Relating the former, the importance of the China - EU Investment Agreement (whose negotiations ended on December 30, 2020) was underlined. On relations between China and Italy, Avv. Dong recalled that 2020 was the 50th anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between the two countries and already 16 years since the signing of the strategic partnership and the 10th anniversary of cultural exchanges and the year of China-Italy tourism, whose celebrations due to Covid-19 have been postponed to 2022. Italy was also the first G7 country to join the New Silk Road Project in 2019.
Afterwards, Ms. ZHANG Qionghua, Chief Economist of the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce intervened illustrated the opportunities offered by the city of Ningbo, namely the possibility of taking advantage of special economic zones, the services of a large industrial and cultural center and logistical organization of one of the largest ports in China. Ningbo is an important stop on the New Silk Road. It is located in eastern China in the province of Zhejiang, from which most of the Chinese entrepreneurs in Italy and Europe come. Moreover, every year Ningbo hosts the China-CEEC Expo, in 2021 now in its second edition, a very important event for China-Europe commercial cooperation.
Then Mr. LI Jian, General Services Bureau Vice Director Sino-Italy Ningbo Ecological Park Administrative Committee intervened. After a brief institutional greeting, in which he recalled that June 11, 2021 was the anniversary of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Italian and Chinese governments of June 11, 2014 (Cooperation Agreement upon the Program of Establishing the Sino-Italy Ningbo Ecological Park). The Sino-Italy Ningbo Ecological Park (SinePark) was created in 2015. It is an unique ecological park of Zhejiang Province, one of the 8 state-level parks for international cooperation in China. The SinePark is strategically located in the Yangtze River Delta in Zhejiang Province in Yuyao (Ningbo) city. It hosts also an incubator and R&D center in collaboration with Tsinghua University. SinePark focuses on the following sectors: New Energy Automobile, New Materials, Eco-friendly industrial base, Life & Health, General Aviation (High end equipment).
During the webinar, Mr. Roberto Cerutti, CEO of Patelec also talked about the successful experience of an Italian company in the Chinese market and in particular within the Sinepark. The history of Patelec in China is particularly interesting because it dates back to the early 2000s and therefore has experienced the evolution of the Chinese market. The transfer to Sinepark took place at the beginning of 2020, therefore in full pandemic, thus proving a great resilience of Patelec and an adequate response from Sinepark even in emergency conditions.
Another interesting speech was that of Ms. Ms. LI Yue, Vice President and Board Member of China Economic Information Service (CEIS) who provided an overview of the Green Silk Road and the role of CEIS and Xinhua Silk Road as "Information Port", "Opinionist" and "Friendship Bridge" for Sino-foreign cooperation especially in the green sector. Furthermore, from the point of view of promoting Sino-Italian commercial and industrial cooperation, CEIS recalled the importance of collaborations with Class Editori and Ansa Italia.
We thank all the guest speakers, co-organizers, media partners and webinar participants for their valuable collaboration and support. Participants from Italy, Switzerland, Europe, USA, China, Africa and Australia participated to the webinar. The works took place in three languages: Italian, English and Chinese.
As a Silk Council association and Dong & Partners international law firm, we wanted to provide a concrete contribution to the relaunch of economic, industrial, commercial, scientific and cultural relations between China-Italy and China-Europe post-Covid, highlighting a concrete opportunity for cooperation through the Municipality of Ningbo and the Sino-Italy Ningbo Ecological Park.
Anyone interested in learning more about these opportunities can contact us by email at info@silkcouncil.org and info@dongpartners.eu
All the materials of the event (videos, photos and slides) are available on the websites www.silkcouncil.organd www.dongpartners.eu
Thanks for your precious support.
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Video of the Webinar
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