CJAH’s Weekly ‘Blog’!
When I first suggested that in the renewal of www.britcham.com that I should write a weekly I little thought that the time for me to start it would arrive so quickly! Well it has and here we are with the launch of the new www.britcham.com which is one that I hope that members and visitors alike will find refreshed and easy to use – if not tell us what we have missed or what improvements should be made. Well where to begin apart from noting that yet another weekend seems destined to be a wet one?
It is easy for us to become overwhelmed by the impact or perceived impact of the global economic contraction on our businesses but I think that this is also the time when we should be having a hard look at opportunities that are cropping up. I have just had lunch with the Fujian Economic Promotion Committee which has brought me up to date with the latest developments in the province that are arising from the greater links between Taiwan and the Province now that the process of normalization of relations between the mainland and Taiwan are well under way. We have a history of close links with both the Province and the City of Xiamen which is the major port linking the two. The pace of developments there seems to be increasing and I was able to learn a great deal not the least of which is that they are going to open the longest Maglev track in the world between Xiamen and Fuzhou some 300 kilometres and the journey eventually will be reduced from the current 3 hours by road to some 20 minutes by the train! We will as ever be promoting the annual China Foreign Investment & Trade Fair in September and certainly I shall be attending it and anyone who is interested in joining me would be most welcome to join me there.
The other piece of news that has come to my attention is the update which Carma Elliott our Consul General in Shanghai has recently given a talk. As someone who travels there very frequently this is going to be a mega event and already with the preparations well underway it is clearly something that will be well worthwhile visiting. It will start on 1 May 2010 and lasts until October 2010. The British Pavilion is the very cutting edge of design technology and that alone will be worth visiting. Anyhow the point of my mentioning it is to encourage you to think of visiting it. More info can be gleaned by visiting the web site at http://en.expo2010.cn/
Well that is it for now except to say that I hope that you have all managed to pay your subscriptions if not please do so when you have a moment – remember we are your Chamber and depend very much on you not only for financial lifeblood but also for your involvement.
