JETRO Topics
Renewal of MOU with the Shandong Provincial People's Government
March 2019
On March 26, JETRO Chairman Hiroyuki Ishige had a dialogue with Governor Gong Zheng of Shandong Province at JETRO Headquarters in Tokyo. Shandong has been vigorously engaged in activities to reduce critical risks related to finance and government debt, depart from poverty and protect the local ecology. In addition, it has been devoted to promoting China's reform policy of opening up to the outside world, facilitating economic growth through innovation and human resources.
Chairman Ishige reported on progress of the action plan submitted to Governor Gong at the last meeting in November 2018, which consisted of the following three pillars: 1) expanding exchange between companies in important industries such as healthcare and welfare, 2) expanding two-way investment and 3) arranging regular meetings between the provincial government and Japanese companies. He had this to say: "There are approximately 2,000 Japanese companies active in Shandong Province, and conversely, excellent companies from Shandong are operating in Japan. We would like to make efforts to further promote business exchange between such companies from both sides." He then promised that JETRO will conduct activities to facilitate business exchange with the province.
After the dialogue, Chairman Ishige and Governor Gong signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between JETRO and the Shandong Provincial People's Government. JETRO will take advantage of the agreement to further develop economies both in Japan and Shandong, facilitate industry exchange and expand cooperation with the province in the future.
The main activities agreed upon through the MOU are as follows:
- Forging a cooperative relationship toward facilitating trade and investment in a two-way manner.
- Holding high-level meetings as needed to consider important issues regarding collaboration in the fields of trade and investment, exchange information useful for cooperation and developing related plans.
- Providing information that can contribute to market entry and encouraging companies to act, aiming at facilitating two-way trade and investment.
- Coordinating and solving issues companies have been facing through a dialogue held on a regular basis toward creating a better business environment so that companies from Japan and Shandong can easily conduct business in both markets.
- Conducting joint activities for promoting business exchange in particular in the fields of healthcare, elderly needs, environment and energy conservation, high-end manufacturing, and service.
- Focusing efforts especially on facilitating collaboration between SMEs to promote cooperation in trade and investment.
A mission aimed at deepening business exchange with Japanese companies also visited Japan on this occasion and jointly held the “China-Japan Healthcare and Elderly Needs Industry Networking Meeting” in Osaka with JETRO. Shandong Province, as well as local governments within it, also held an investment seminar in Tokyo.
