The Government creates the 'China Desk' to attract factories and technology centers from the Asian giant

The Government is committed to strengthening China's presence in Catalonia, which already has more than 200 subsidiaries installed, a figure that has registered exponential growth in recent years. "It is one of the largest investors on a global scale, but one of the least established countries in Europe in the field of manufacturing," says the Minister of Business and Labor, Roger Torrent. To reverse this, the Catalan executive has created a new office that will be dedicated to increasing the attraction of investment projects, with a focus on attracting production plants, headquarters or technology centers from the mobility and health sectors.

The new China Desk will be located at Acció's headquarters and will work in coordination with the agency's offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It will be made up of professionals of Chinese origin to bridge the gap with the business culture of the Asian giant and facilitate dialogue with local authorities and multinational executives. "For more than 30 years, Acció has been working on the ground to attract projects from Chinese multinationals to Catalonia, but now we are taking another step," says Torrent.

In addition to the launch of this specialized office, the Government will carry out a new institutional mission to China next April, after the one it recently carried out last October. On that trip, it was announced that the multinational Wanhua, one of the largest in the chemical industry sector, will open an innovation center in Cornellà de Llobregat, the first in southern Europe. Recently, it was also communicated that the textile company Shanghai Jingqingrong Garment, supplier to brands such as Uniqlo and H&M, will open its first production plant outside China in Ripollet.

With announcements like those of Wanhua and Shanghai Jingqingrong Garment, China has strengthened its position in Catalonia to become the third non-European country with the most subsidiaries, only behind the United States and Japan. Likewise, Catalan companies exported more than 2.3 billion euros to China, which positions it as the second non-European destination with the most sales, surpassed by the United States. In the same way that investment is sought to be attracted to Catalonia, the Government also works to increase the expansion projects of Catalan companies in the Asian giant, either through digital channels, the opening of subsidiaries and technology transfer collaborations, with Hong Kong as the chosen gateway for startup missions.