German firms bullish on Chongqing, 'looking forward to expand into China'

A good location, strong industrial strength, ample skilled workers, a beautiful environment and a supportive local government in Chongqing's Yongchuan district impressed a visiting German business delegation last week, as they signed a series of agreements in modern manufacturing and vocational education with the city on Friday.

Schwabische Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH (SW), a global leader in manufacturing solutions, Transfact GmbH, an industrial automation company, and Oskar Kammer School, will work with Yongchuan on intelligent manufacturing industry projects and vocational education exchanges.

"I think Yongchuan district is transforming into a new industrial area with high speed, with a lot of young talent shaping the future. Therefore, it is very possible for our delegation to see potential growth in this area," said Uwe Kurt Fritsch, leader of the German delegation and former member of Volkswagen Global Board, at the signing ceremony.

Although this trip was Fritsch's 12th visit to China and first to Chongqing, he first visited the country in 1991 and had witnessed China's rapid development over the years with keen interest.

"We must work together and we have the opportunity to grow together. Companies from Germany are looking forward to expand into China," Fritsch said.

The 30-member German group from 25 companies, educational institutes and universities, visited Yongchuan Big Data Industrial Park, Baidu's Apollo Go, Great Wall Motor, Sino-German Intelligent Industrial Park, Yongchuan comprehensive bonded zone and Chongqing City Vocational College, to explore business opportunities.

In 2022, Yongchuan granted China's first unmanned autonomous driving permits to five Baidu taxis, allowing them to operate without a human driver or safety operator in the vehicles running on public roads for the first time.

Chongqing has long been the country's major industrial base, especially in automobiles. Last year, Chongqing's GDP reached a record 3 trillion yuan ($423 billion), up 6.1 percent year-on-year thanks to its strong manufacturing and logistics sectors.

In recent years, Yongchuan district in the west of Chongqing has built itself into a modern manufacturing hub and a major vocational education base in western China with 18 vocational schools and 200,000 students.

"Our aim is that both sides can learn from each other and bring the local vocational education to a better level," said Rudiger Schmidt, general manager of Oskar Kammer School.

Yongchuan has a solid foundation in cooperating with German companies and its Sino-German Intelligent Industrial Park, built in 2019, is home to several high-end CNC (computer numerical control) machine tool enterprises, such as SW, Liebherr and Degen.

Last month, Yongchuan signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Siemens (China) Ltd, and the two parties will collaborate in areas such as industrial digitalization, green and low-carbon initiatives, and vocational education.

Jurgen Hilp, a professor at Baden-Wurttemberg Cooperative State University, who was also visiting Chongqing for the first time, said that more people should know about Chongqing and western China.

"It (Chongqing) is very well located with very good infrastructure and environment, people here are very friendly and the government is very helpful. I think companies from all over the world can invest here," Hilp said.