SHANGHAI, CHINA – Positioning California to attract a growing share of
China’s massive foreign investment pool and bolstering California-China
trade, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., the Bay Area Council and the
Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) opened
the California-China Office of Trade and Investment today.
“California is the gateway to the Pacific and this office in China will
help businesses large and small expand trade and jobs,” said Governor
Brown.
The office opening comes on the third full day of Governor Brown’s trade
and investment mission to China. It is the state’s first foreign trade
office in a decade.
The California-China Office of Trade and Investment will serve as a hub
for California companies interested in entering or expanding in China –
the world’s second largest economy – and Chinese companies seeking
investment opportunities in California – the world’s ninth largest
economy by GDP.
The privately-funded office will be staffed and operated by the Bay Area
Council, which has deep roots in China. The Council organized the trade
and investment mission’s delegation of approximately 90 business,
economic development, investment and policy leaders.
“The California-China Office of Trade and Investment ushers in an
exciting new era of cooperation and partnership between two of the
world’s largest economies,” Jim Wunderman, President and CEO of the Bay
Area Council, said. “This office will provide California with a valuable
and necessary portal for attracting Chinese investment and expanding
trade. Some estimates suggest China’s foreign direct investment may
reach $2 trillion by 2020 and this trade office says clearly that
California is ready to do business, and that we want a big piece of that
pie.”
The office opening was made possible in part by AB 2012, authored by
Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) and signed last October
by the Governor. This bill allowed GO-Biz to establish a public-private
partnership to create state trade and investment offices. The trade
office that opened today is the state’s first since 2003.
“California and China have maintained a robust trade and investment
relationship but the potential to expand that connectivity is
limitless,” said the Governor’s Senior Jobs Advisor Mike Rossi. “This
office will focus on creating business-to-business connections between
California and China to ensure that the Golden State takes full
advantage of every international business opportunity.”
On the heels of the $1.5 billion China-California investment partnership
announced Wednesday, four more deals were announced today by the
California-China Office of Trade and Investment, including:
• Beijing-based pharmaceutical company JOINN Scientific is
investing $50 million to establish a pharmaceutical production plant in
cooperation with Staidson Pharmaceuticals, to be located at the former
Bayer manufacturing facility in Richmond, California.
• Hongye International of Wuhai, China is investing $100 million
of private equity investment into the Arcadia, California-based firm
Singpoli Capital to develop green energy, biochemistry, media,
high-technology and real estate construction projects in California.
• Sacramento-based McWong International and Emeryville-based New
Logic Research Inc. have secured a $20 million contract with Inner
Mongolia-based ChinaCoal Mengda New Energy Chemical Company and China
National Coal Group for a zero-liquid-waste discharge project.
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography/UC San Diego (UCSD) signed
an agreement with Ningbo University that includes: $50-$100 million of
Chinese funding for a Scripps/UCSD research center for development of
renewable marine resources and technologies at Ningbo University; the
formation of $25 million marine innovation and technology fund for
commercialization in China of Scripps/UCSD discoveries; and a program to
send top Ningbo students for advanced academic work at Scripps/UCSD.
With today’s office opening, Governor Brown is following through on the
commitment he made last year to visit China and open a trade and
investment office when then-Vice President, and now President of China,
Xi Jinping, visited California.
“I want to thank Governor Brown for his leadership in re-establishing
California’s official global trade and investment presence,” said U.S.
Senator Dianne Feinstein in a videotaped message from Washington, D.C.
“And thank you also to the Bay Area Council and the many businesses and
economic development organizations that have made this important
public-private partnership possible.”
This week and next, the Governor will meet with Chinese government and
business leaders and highlight bilateral trade and investment
opportunities at events across China, from Beijing and Shanghai to
Nanjing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
Today’s office opening followed remarks at Tsinghua University, meetings with China's Premier, Minister of Commerce, Minister of Environmental Protection,
Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, a forum
with the American Chamber of Commerce – Beijing and a reception at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing with the U.S. Ambassador to China earlier this week.
press release
