Ningbo furthers trade ties with foreign countries
- By Zhang Jiaqi
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E-mail China.org.cn, June 10, 2018
However, the Ningbo government with considerate support and dedication, decided it was time for a change.
"There was a strong commitment by the government to both learn and understand people's expectations and suggestions, and, most importantly, to plan accordingly," he said.
Cooperating closely with the local government, Nodland established the Nordic Industrial Park (NIP) in 2002.
Nodland still clearly remembers all the help provided by the government when he established the NIP with a "relatively modest investment".
The help included communicating what the government could offer and honoring its promises, facilitating registration and construction permits, and even greeting all the clients he brought here.
"20 years ago, the gap between foreign investors and government staff was much bigger as expectations, culture, and language were all challenges, but now, the gap has narrowed," Nodland said, adding that the processing procedures are much easier today.
Over the years, NIP has expanded from essentially a non-existing community in Ningbo to the largest concentration of Nordic businesses in China, resulting in a Nordic community of around 150 people.
Based on its success, NIP is still considered by many as one of the best examples of how to generate not only a business but also friendship in Ningbo and other nations. Many people Nodland met 20 years ago are still his friends today.
Favorable atmosphere and sound development
Now, Ningbo is implementing the "One Time at Most" reform, which states that with the necessary documents and if all legal conditions are met, companies can complete the application affairs process just by going to a service window - whereas before, the process was much more complicated. Furthermore, Ningbo has an efficient government, ranking among the top ten in the National Public Service Satisfaction Survey, and the transparency of Ningbo municipal government ranks first among comparable cities.
After 20 years, the city, once thought by Nodland to have great potential, proved its capability.
This year, the China Zhejiang Investment and Trade Symposium is celebrating its 20th session. The event held on June 7 witnessed the signing of 24 projects with a total investment of 65.89 billion yuan (US$10.29 billion), among which 14 were major foreign-invested projects, worth 31.03 billion yuan (US$4.85 billion).
At this year's China Zhejiang Investment and Trade Symposium, the Ningbo Economic and Technological Development Zone and Ningbo Free Trade Area both ranked in the top ten open platforms of Zhejiang province, and at the Zhejiang Provincial Opening-up Conference held in May, Ningbo claimed five seats among the top ten counties or districts of foreign trade.
Also, this year at an investment and trade symposium specifically held for Ningbo, a total of 24 foreign-investment projects were signed, with a contracted investment of US$1.88 billion, and 49 domestic projects with a total investment of over 130 billion yuan (US$20.3 billion).
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