One belt, one road - SBS Consulting Group

Through our office in Chengdu we have made a careful evaluation of the programs activated by the Province with reference to the interchange between Italy and China, especially aimed at SMEs in the more general framework of the interventions outlined by the Chinese government in the strategy called One belt, one road (the New Silk Road).

On the basis of the good relations established with the local authorities, we have been able to include SBS Consulting Group in the program launched locally to export the brand of products, of traditional and non-material culture, from the Sichuan Province to Europe.

It is in this context that contacts have been developed with the Sichuan Post-Disaster Reconstruction Foundation, created at government level, to coordinate and contribute to the reconstruction of areas heavily affected by the 2008 earthquake, which caused over 80,000 victims. The Foundation, after having carried out, and almost completed, the work of reconstruction of the territory, has started a program to relaunch the province in the context, and with funds, coming from the interventions outlined by President Xi Jinping in the context of the OBOR (one belt, one road, the New Silk Road).

Following these contacts, the Foundation awarded a Letter of Appointment to SBS Consulting Group to organize contacts and prepare a series of initiatives aimed at promoting the Italian side of European-Sichuan Trade Platform with a financing of the Chengyi Huaxia Bank Special Fund.

In this first phase SBS Consulting Group will organize a series of meetings in Italy with representatives of the Sichuan Province Authorities and the Foundation with Public and private Italian entities, aimed at defining a common platform of economic relations and a detailed program of initiatives to promote import export and a bilateral aid and investment plan, in particular for SMEs.

In the next phase a program of initiatives will be launched for different sectors of the industry and for the different Italian and Chinese industrial districts, with a specific attention to the sectors of agriculture, education and training and culture.

OBOR, One belt, on road

The Appointment (linkare il pdf) with the Sichuan Province Authorities is part of the context of our direct relations with Public Entities and operators in Greater China with reference to the more general picture of the interventions outlined by the Chinese Government in the strategic program One belt, one road.

According to what was promoted directly by President Xi Jinping, since 2013, this strategic initiative is aimed at improving links and cooperation between Eurasia countries. A major economic project that aims to integrate Asia and Europe by building six transport corridors by land and by sea, through which goods, technologies and culture will circulate.

The operation, more commonly identified with the English acronym OBOR (one belt, one road) provides land and sea routes and will involve up to 65 countries, more than half of the world’s population, three quarters of energy reserves and a third of the global gross domestic product.

The Overland Silk Road from China, will cross all the Central Asian republics, touch Moscow and it will reach up to Spain. The Seaborne Silk Road will cover all of Eastern and Southern Asia, reaching the Mediterranean Sea through the recently doubled Suez Canal. Italy will participate directly in the project, offering Adriatic ports for the transit of goods to Northern Europe.

Commercial corridors will also be established linking China to Pakistan and then to the terrestrial route, passing through Myanmar, Bangladesh and India. Railway lines from Singapore, through Thailand, will reach Bangladesh.

The development of these immense transport and logistics infrastructures will give an unimaginable boost to the EU-China trade, further increasing the flow of current international investments and import-export.

To realize these projects, two financial arms were created: the Silk Road Fund and the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank. The Silk Road Fund is the 40 billion fund that recently reached an agreement to acquire a 5% stake in Autostrade per l’Italia.

AIIB has been active since January 2016 with a capital of 100 billion dollars. Italy was among the first European countries to join with a 2% share.

China is promoting the project through bilateral relations and already existing multilateral international organizations.

In this context, Italy, the only country present among the G7 states, participated in the One Belt One Road Summit in Beijing in May 2017.

On the sidelines of the Summit, present the former Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni, and the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, was signed by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and by China Development Bank, a memorandum of understanding for the constitution of a new investment fund, “Sino-Italian Co-Investment Fund“, to support Italian and Chinese SMEs. The agreement signed paves the way for the creation of a 100 million euro fund, shared by the two partners, which will invest in the capital of Italian and Chinese companies – preferably SMEs – with operations in Italy and China.

CHENGDU AND THE PROVINCE OF SICHUAN

SBS Consulting Group has opened a branch office in Chengdu, located in southwest China, the capital of the Sichuan Province. The fourth most populous center in China, with its more than 17 million residents, Chengdu is a natural hub for communications and transportation from the central Chinese provinces, on the one hand towards the coastal areas of Eastern China and, on the other, towards Tibet and India.

A city at the same time rich in tradition and culture of ultramodern areas, it has among the main attractions the Chengdu Panda Base, an important nature reserve and the main world center of research on the giant panda.

The Sichuan Province has an area of 485,000 square kilometers (over one and a half times Italy) and a population of 90 million. It is the third most populous province in China.

Rich in natural resources, Sichuan has the reserves of vanadium, titanium, and lithium and gas (larger than China’s extensive water basins, which have favored agricultural development.

Since the 1980s, Sichuan has experienced rapid economic development in the industrial sector, especially in the automotive, aerospace, pharmaceutical, technology and data collection and processing sectors.

The Provincial Government has been implementing initiatives aimed at attracting foreign investments, allocating funds for about € 2.4 billion to improve infrastructure and public services (including transport).

Several industrial parks and some areas for economic and technological development have arisen throughout the province. Among these areas, the Chengdu Economic and Technological Development Zone, consists of an area of 56 square kilometers dominated by the automotive industry, high-tech and software development, especially of large South Korean brands.

REPRODUCE THE SICHUAN MODEL IN OTHER PROVINCES

SBS Consulting Group, through its over twenty years operational presence in the country, has had the opportunity to activate numerous public relations not only in the large centers of the eastern coast but also, and above all, with the Provinces of internal China, otherwise called Greater China where the growth it is more impetuous and where there are still large spaces for foreign investors. These Inland Provinces are developing a new and important opening towards European markets, considering both entrepreneurial and cultural initiatives with interest.

So we started to re-propose the model of collaboration, launched with the Province of Sichuan, to Public Entities and Chinese entrepreneurs from other provinces of internal China, always with reference to the opportunities offered by the New Silk Road program..

As known, for some time now, it is possible to operate in China directly even if for more organic and integrated forms of collaboration it is advisable to pre-empt the start of operations from an official contact with an Authorized Public Entity.

Also in this case we are therefore able to offer our customers selected operations of collaboration and penetration on the Chinese market, developed thanks to fruitful relations with the Authorities of the Chinese Regional Provinces.