The Danish Ambassador to China, Mr. Friis Arne Petersen, visited Shijiazhuang the capital of Hebei province on September 11 with a Danish-Swedish business delegation.
In Shijiazhuang, the Ambassador met Vice Governor of Hebei provience Mr. Zhang Jieuhui, to discuss cooperation opportunities with Hebei on port cooperation and opportunities in this area between Denmark and China.
“Denmark has always been a maritime country with a strong bond to global shipping and trade. Today the Danish shipping industry is amongst the world’s largest and therefore Denmark is very interested in facilitating good shipping port cooperation in China,” said Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen.
Hebei province is located near the two municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin next to the Bohai Sea and with the total area of 188 square km, has the population of 72 million. There are 11 cities, 172 counties and districts in the province and the total economic output amount to 2,657.5 billion RMB in 2012.
“Hebei province takes great pride in reforms and opening up the economy. We pay important attention to the relation with Denmark. Last year, the total trade of Hebei with Denmark reached 115 million US dollars,” Vice Governor Mr. Zhang Jiehui said.
“I led a delegation of Hebei province in 2012 to pay a visit to Denmark and Copenhagen. We had many successful meetings with the port authorities there.”
Hebei’s annual GDP ranks in the top six of China. However, the economic development in Hebei province has come to a new stage. The province is trying to diversify the industries and improve the quality of the industry development.
“The new Chinese leaders are sending a political signal that China needs reforms for economic development. I think it is a right path forward for China. Denmark is willing to increase the possibilities for in depth cooperation between our two countries in the future in creating greener economic development,” said Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen.
“Denmark is one of the few countries in the world economy that still remain AAA credit ratings, so this also makes the country very attractive for Hebei to cooperate with.”
Source: Embassy of Denmark in China
