The China-Italy SME Investment and Trade Forum and B2B took place at the Bank of China Headquarters in Beijing on 16 May 2017.
The forum was organized jointly by the Bank of China and Sistema Italia to bring together small and medium sized Chinese enterprises and their Italian counterparts to widen and develop the collaboration between the two Countries.
More than 300 selected account holders of the Bank of China attended several B2B meetings in order to have the opportunity to create collaborations. In light of this, Bank of China supported part of the costs of the Italian participants, as a way of indicating the willingness to build up overseas cooperation.
Since 2004 Bank of China has organized more than 20 cross-border events. More than 8000 SMEs from 56 different countries have joined these events, making Bank of China the opening gate for international cooperation for its clients.
The China-Italy SME Investment and Trade initiative was created by the Presidency of the China Business Forum (Pirelli and Bank of China) in line with the One Belt One Road strategy launched by the Chinese government and other protocols between Italy and China.
In 2015 Bank of China also started the Bank of China Global SME Cross-Border Matchmaking Service, a networking program aimed at helping small and medium enterprises to carry out cross border transactions and enter foreign markets.
The China-Italy SME Investment and Trade Forum mainly focused on bio-medicine, equipment manufacturing, environment protection, modern agriculture, food and beverage, furniture, textile and fashion.
By analyzing the aforementioned sectors, it is possible to infer China’s interest in importing high-tech know-how. Indeed similar sectors are the main focus of the long term Chinese plan named “Made in China 2025”. This project has the purpose of encouraging foreign investments in several specific sectors in the technology industry. By 2025 China is forecasting to shift from low-quality industry to high-end manufacturing through the implementation of next-generation information technology and robotics in its facilities.
All these programmes are highly interesting to the Italian SMEs who are willing to invest in the Chinese market. To achieve this goal several incentives are going to be implemented in the coming future.
Although the context of recognized standing should be a guarantee for the Italian SMEs, they are strongly recommended to properly check the legal protection of their IP rights. It would be advisable to examine information regarding the Chinese companies with whom they intend to discuss possible commercial relationships, in order to avoid any kind of issues.
