Inside the China CEEC Summit 2019

To say that the Chinese industry is booming is merely an understatement. Particularly worth mentioning are the New Silk Road aka the Belt Road Initiative and the 17+1 Cooperation, also known as the China-CEEC Cooperation.

The China CEEC Summit 2019 took place in April 2019 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. This 8th summit, presided over by China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang, was held under the theme "Building New Bridges Through Openness, Innovation and Partnership".

Now, what does this mean for the global economy in general, and the European economy in particular. And most importantly, how can your business benefit? Let’s find out in this week’s Tenba Group blog article.

What is the 17+1 Cooperation?

The 17+1 Cooperation, formerly also known as 16+1 cooperation describes the bilateral association and cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEE or CEEC).

It is an initiative by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote business and investment relations between China and 17 countries of the CEEC region.

The CEEC region includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia* and Slovenia. Countries marked with an asterisk () are EU-member states.

The economic and geographical area is a section of the New Silk Road which follows two tracks:

• a land arrival in Poland in the North
• a maritime arrival in Greece in the South

A Win-Win Situation for All?

The opportunities for Chinese public firms particularly lie in the infrastructure sector and in the financing by Chinese banks to build these infrastructure projects.

Besides, a hub effect through the investments of major telecommunications groups is anticipated. Traditional and declining industries like the steel industry in Serbia, coal mines in Bosnia and chemicals in Hungary are expected to boost.

By 2014, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic received the most Chinese investments. In numbers, Hungary received around 3.9 billion RMB (550 million USD), Poland around 2.3 billion RMB (330 million USD), and the Czech Republic received around 1.7 billion RMB (242 million USD).

The China CEEC Summit 2019

The China-CEE cooperation meets annually and among other business opportunities promotes the projects under the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. The BRI aims to “provide promising opportunities for China and Europe, …, covering the sectors of infrastructure, transportation and logistics, trade and investment, and energy, among others."

Projects under the BRI include the E763 Highway project in Serbia, the Budapest-Belgrade railway and the China-Europe land-sea express line. In Croatia, an initiative to build the Peljesac bridge was led by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).

In Poland, Chinese companies invested in the acquisitions of Huta Stalowa Wola, a civil engineering machinery company, as well as KFLT Bearings Poland, a producer of automotive bearings.

In the China CEEC Summit 2019, “upholding the multilateral trading system, expanding the trade volume, promoting the BRI, accelerating innovation and promoting cultural exchange“ were particularly emphasized by China’s Premier Li Keqiang.

China-CEE - An Economy Booster

According to China Customs’ statistics, China’s trade volume with the CEEC totaled more than 470 billion RMB (67 billion USD) in 2017. That’s an increase of almost 16% compared to 2016.

From 2012 to 2017 six new direct flight routes between China and CEEC have been opened. The number of Chinese tourists visiting CEEC increased from 280,000 to 930,000 (232%). Moreover, a China-CEEC Coordination Center for Cultural Cooperation was opened in North Macedonia.

At the same time, the China-CEEC training center for young artists and the China-CEEC Cultural and Creative Industries Exchanges and Cooperation Center were opened in China’s South-Western city of Chengdu.

How You Can Benefit from this Booming Market

Regardless of which resources, products or services your business provides, you can benefit from the 17+1 Cooperation and China’s multi-trillion RMB investment.

1. Market Entry Strategy
   • Put first things first. Create a thought-through China market entry strategy to launch into this unique and complex market. Set your goals, conduct an analysis, review your findings, choose a medium of entry, check your finances and the legal parameters.
2. Chinese Business Website
   • Setting up a professional and SEOptimized website for your company enables you to reach Chinese businesses and consumers directly. Make sure to adjust your SEO to Chinese search engines like Baidu and Sogou. Baidu is the most popular search engine in China. You may want to consider hiring a Chinese web design company.
3. Domain Set Up
   • Launch your Chinese website up with a .cn domain - hosted in Hong Kong or via CDN - to make your website load fast. Alternatively, you can host in China with an ICP license. Use Cloud Hosting for faster and more secure services.
4. Social Media Marketing
   • Combining Chinese and Western Social Media Marketing to maximize your target audience engagement. The most popular Chinese social media are WeChat, the app for everything, TikTok/Douyin and Sina Weibo. Besides WeChat advertising, influencer marketing is more than popular in China (KOL, KOC, KOB, Wanghong).
5. Leverage Daigous
   • Take advantage of this specialized cross-border e-commerce industry in China. Daigou sellers work similar to influencers - they sell high-value international products at a commission in their online shops through a huge network of followers and fans.
6. Localization
   • Speak your clients’ language and address them culturally appropriate. Translating professional content from English to Chinese and vice versa is a bit more complex than Google Translate may make it seem.

Doing business with the Chinese has its own rules and etiquette. A specialized China marketing agency can help you with this.

The Takeaway

The Chinese economy is booming and expanding to the whole world. In particular, the BRI Initiative aka the New Silk Road is a showpiece for Chinese and European cooperation, investment opportunities and growth.

The China CEEC Summit 2019 demonstrated a strengthening of political trust alongside rapidly growing trade and investment. Cooperation in the fields of education, tourism, and culture continues to deepen and the range of cooperation is expanding disproportionately.

Setting up a multilingual online presence can help you to lift this potential and reach the multi-trillion RMB Chinese market alongside tailor-made digital marketing strategies.

Tenba Group provides customized marketing advice in China and smart solutions in English, Chinese, and German to skyrocket your business. Our international team of experts will help you to conquer the Chinese market through smart online marketing.

Disclaimer: This blog post contains affiliate links. For us to support our blogging activities, we may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for our endorsement, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this blog post. We only recommend or endorse products and services that we approve of and value, and feel would be helpful for our readers.

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