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State Development Leaders Promote Georgia to China Business Executives
Shannon Van Sant
BEIJING, CHINA
(2008-08-18) Olympics are not just a haven for spectators, but also an opportunity for drawing Georgia businessmen and politicians in an effort to pave the way for increased trade in the future. Shannon Van Sant has the story from Beijing. (To hear this story, click no the "Listen: MP3" icon above.)

Atlantans Sam Williams and Hans Gant came to Beijing to see the Olympics and to cultivate guanxi - in Chinese that means relationships - and in China relationships are crucial to doing business. Williams is the President of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

Sam Williams-
Particularly with the Chinese personal relationships mean an awful lot more than they do in the states. In China you've got to know people first, and secondly do business with them.

To do this Gant, the chamber's senior vice president for economic development, says they met with Atlanta companies that do business in China and with Chinese companies looking to invest back into the United States.

Hans Gant -
What we want to do is make Atlanta one of the gateways for that Chinese investment and what that means for Atlanta, obviously long term is the more companies we recruit to Atlanta and the investment they make in Atlanta will mean economic spin-off opportunities for Atlanta-based companies as well as a lot of job opportunities.

Governor Sonny Perdue also traveled to China earlier this month. It was his second trip here after opening an office for economic development in Beijing last April. This time Perdue came for a conference of international leaders, but Michael Su, Georgia's Beijing-based Commercial Representative, says it's a journey he'll likely make again

Michael Su--
The Chinese culture values face to face communication very much. They prefer not to deal with just telephones or e-mails or fax. They prefer to see the faces of the people they're dealing with, and our governor, of course, is the face of Georgia. When he is making trips to China it shows that our state is putting China high on our list.

Increasingly, Chinese companies are putting Georgia at the top of their list.
Chinese-owned Sany Heavy Industry Co. is building a $30 million factory in Peachtree City, which will provide 300 jobs making construction equipment. The Chinese company General Protect Group, which makes electric plugs, plans to build a factory in Barnesville.

And Hao Feng, the chairman of Chinamex, speaking through translator, said Atlanta is his number one choice for his company's U.S. headquarters.

Hao Feng--
I like Atlanta very much.

Chinamex helps small to mid-sized Chinese companies enter foreign markets. Hoa Feng says access to Hartsfield International Airport and the port of Savannah would give the company a reach beyond Atlanta.

Hao Feng--
Atlanta is a good city which has the potential to cover the South American market. They also have a lot of resources for Chinese companies to use, through American businessmen, through American companies, and the network, they can sell and invest in South America.

Chinamex already has bases in Dubai, Amsterdam and Manchester, England. If Chinamex chooses Atlanta as it's headquarters the company will bring up to 1,500 Chinese entrepreneurs over to set up shop in Georgia. But Hao Feng says his plans to enter the U.S. market are on hold until the U.S. economy rebounds.

Hao Feng--
A lot of Chinese entrepreneurs are thinking, now is not the best time to do business directly in the United States. They would rather wait for the whole economy to become better.

Meanwhile, Sam Williams and his colleagues at the chamber of commerce aren't waiting for an upturn in the U.S. economy to meet with businessmen like Hao Feng and help Georgia compete in global trade.

Sam Williams--
We can't be an isolationist country as I've feared we've been heading that way in the last couple of years, because other countries are out here, and the rest of the world, and we need to be out here in this global marketplace.

Williams and Gant have returned home from the games. Hao Feng says Chinamex representatives will visit Atlanta this fall.

For WABE News I'm Shannon Van Sant in Beijing
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