New opportunities to Enter West China – Summary from the Fourth China-Israel Forum Meeting

The China, Asia – Israel business and networking Forum has held already 4 meetings. These meetings serve as a venue for sharing knowledge and experience and establishing mutual business relations. In this post I am pleased to share insights from the meeting with you.
 The Business potential of West China
Amram Olmert, who has been setting up agricultural farms in China for the past 20 years, has given as a lecture about the new opportunities in West China.
West China constitutes a focused area of activities for Israeli technologies, especially in agricultural areas such as water sources, desertification, and green and organic agriculture. The great business potential of this area stems from the fact that the central Chinese government has designated the area a “priority development” one, in the aim of closing the gap between China’s east and west provinces, and slowing down the accelerated urbanization of the region as manpower leaves rural areas for the cities.

Differences between East China and West China

The natural conditions prevailing in East China are far superior to those in the west. The east of China is close to the sea and enjoys the traffic of three great ports, at Tianjin, Shanghai and Guang Zhou. China’s economic concept during the 70’s focused on industrial investments in more accessible areas. This led to an ever-increasing gap between east and west. As the east flourished, the west stagnated.

Two objective conditions that make it hard to develop the west of China:

1. Location – far from China’s main industrial areas.

2. Climate – very dry, with little water.

Enormous resources are allocated for the development of West China

Through its provincial governments, China’s central federal government is allocating huge financial means to develop and promote the west regions of China.

GO WEST – A golden opportunity for Israeli companies

Israel has tremendous technological advantages in the areas of agriculture, desertification and water. This is the best time to exploit the opportunity offered by the huge resources that China allocates for development. Israeli companies can now enter the market by offering the Chinese government a wide range of solutions in these areas.

Amram Olmert told us he provided the Israeli minister of Agriculture with a document with guidelines how to enter west China. The minister read the report, talked the issue over with his Chinese counterpart, and the two parties agreed to set up a common project planning body.

How to promote Israeli Initiatives in West China and succeed?

Amram emphasized that the only way to succeed is to set up a body that will incorporate all Israeli companies, so that they may enter the Chinese market as a single organization offering a comprehensive solution, instead of coming into the market as isolated companies.

This is not as simple as it sounds. Israeli companies would have to give up some of their ego and competitive tendencies. Only through joint enterprise can one succeed and make a profit in West China. Obviously, here too, as in any business activity in China, it is important to enter the process with professional consulting and translation services, and we, at Lichi Translations, are happy to help.

The next meeting of the China Forum will take place on Sunday 26.12.2010 in Tel-Aviv; Businessmen operating in China are invited to join!

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