OREANDA-NEWS. The Headquarters of National Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone, in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui, November 7, 2013. 


Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province, is a city which has been steadily been building up its economic foundations over the past couple of decades. Today, Hefei is the site of a number of special economic development zones, attracting major domestic companies as well as foreign multinationals. A delegation of reporters from China Radio International is currently touring the province to learn about the economic situation as well as experiencing the area's culture and customs.

In Hefei, the delegation paid a visit to the city's Economic and Technological Development Area; the scale of which is extremely impressive. At present, the area covers some 74 square kilometers, up from the original 9.85 square kilometers when the zone was first established in 1993. Forecasts suggest that the zone will continue to expand to cover 84 square kilometers by 2020. The presence of 26 Fortune 500 companies in the Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone is a clear indicator that the city is an important hub within China for several major industries and is on the radar of foreign companies looking to expand or bolster their presence in China.

The zone already contributes some 30 percent towards the total gross domestic product of Hefei. However, Cheng Zhenge, Deputy Director of the Administrative Committee of the National Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone, noted that increasing in the contribution towards Hefei's total GDP is not a priority; instead stating that the city hopes to develop further development zones in order to boost the local economy and improve competition.

Alongside foreign multinationals such as Mitsubishi, Coca-Cola and Unliver, the zone is also home to major industrial equipment manufacturers such as HITACHI and well-known domestic manufacturers including Haier, Midea, Lenovo and most notably, JAC Motors. The Anhui brand of JAC Motors is visible throughout the city and the number of JAC cars on the road is high compared to elsewhere in China. The company itself is healthy and is actively expanding its reach beyond China, in line with the so-called strategy of "going global" as advocated by the Chinese government.

JAC Motors currently exports to a number of developing regions and countries, including the Middle East, South America and Africa. Notable export locations include Brazil, Algeria, Egypt, Vietnam and Iran. Despite a focus upon developing regions at present, Wu Ruhao, Deputy Party Secretary Director of JAC Motors, told reporters, "We do plan to expand into developing markets. But in order to do so, first you must meet specific technological and legal standards; this is certainly the case in the EU, especially with regards to safety standards and emissions."

Wu pointed out that JAC Motors is already carrying out the necessary preliminary work in order to enter the EU and the United States and stressed that America will be their first port of call in terms of entering major developed markets. "We will first make sure we are prepared and that we will not fail; and only at that point will we enter those markets," Wu noted.

In the nearby Hi-Tech Development Zone, more famous multinationals operate alongside domestic companies hoping to expand their business from their base in Hefei. iFLYTEK, a Chinese technology firm which specializes in voice recognition software, stands out amongst the companies located within the Hi-Tech zone, due to the support it has received from official channels.

iFLYTEK's voice recognition products, which cater specifically towards the Chinese market and are utilized in smartphones, sat-nav consoles and educational materials, are exciting and unique and compare favorably alongside more established products such as Apple's SIRI. The company, which has some 3000 employees nationwide, 2200 of which are located in Hefei, has gained a lot of support from both central and local government. Preferential tax and land policies, as a result of being located within the Hi-Tech zone, have benefited the company.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology singled the company out for yearly funding thanks to the use of core technology developed in China. iFLYTEK fits the mould of the innovative companies that the Chinese government hopes to encourage in order to help the Chinese economy move up the value chain.

However, despite the achievements and progression of the domestic companies mentioned above, the most outstanding story of the day came from the German tyre manufacturer Continental, which recently established a manufacturing plant in Hefei. The plant, which began construction at the end of 2008, was completed within 3 years; a significant achievement outside of China, let alone inside.

And despite the current yearly capacity of 4 million tyres, making it the smallest among Continental factories worldwide, the opportunities for growth are amazing. Phase two of the project has already begun, which will help to increase capacity up to 8 million tyres, and there is a further option to increase capacity to 16 million should business progress. General Manager Michael Egner stressed that the smooth and rapid development of the plant, which really is unheard of elsewhere in the world of tyre manufacturing, was helped greatly by the support received from the local authorities.

Despite not being the first city to spring to mind when people talk about China, Hefei is clearly an important location for hundreds of Chinese and international companies who are benefiting from being located in the city and will continue to do so as they look to expand over the coming years.

 
On the shop floor of one of HITACHI's manufacturing plants, located in the National Hefei Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone, in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui, November 7, 2013.