????Martin Li ????martin.mouse@163.com ????SHENZHEN has added Brussels, Belgium, to its list of overseas subvenues for next year’s China Hi-Tech Fair (CHTF), according to an agreement signed Saturday by representatives of both cities. ????Shenzhen began holding overseas subvenues for the fair in 2005, in countries such as Austria, Spain, Hungary and Israel. Hungary and Israel are home to subvenues held in June. Subvenue events precede the annual November fair in Shenzhen. ????“Many foreign countries applied to host an overseas subvenue of CHTF. However, we chose to add only Belgium to the overseas subvenue list,” Gao Guohui, vice secretary general of the Shenzhen Municipal Government, said before Saturday’s signing ceremony. ????Brussels is the capital of Belgium and located in the heart of Europe, with advantages in technological innovation and human resources that greatly benefit business professionals and leaders seeking access and influence in European markets, Belgian officials said at the signing ceremony. ????Saturday also marked the establishment of a local office of Brussels Invest & Export, a government department that attracts investment to Brussels. ????Located in central Futian District, the Shenzhen office is the third of its kind in China. The others are in Beijing and Shanghai. ????“The office is a nonprofit institution aimed at helping Chinese enterprises that are seeking development in Brussels and other places in Europe. We introduce them to Belgian policies,” said Liu Jing, who leads the Shenzhen office. ????Liu said Brussels has an incubator project under which three months of free office space will be provided to Chinese enterprises that want to sell their products in Europe. Selected projects also will receive help with government contacts, legal affairs and translation. ????“When a Shenzhen enterprise goes to Brussels for investment, the Shenzhen office will be responsible for collecting and reporting its information,” Liu said. “A battery design company in Belgium had its product manufactured by a Shenzhen enterprise last year, for example. Their cooperation has been going smoothly.” ????The Shenzhen office is also used by Belgium’s southern Wallonia region, to facilitate investment there. The region also has offices in Tianjin and Wuhan. ????“We are putting our efforts on booming cities for the future,” said Michel Kempeneers, director of the Asia-Pacific region for Wallonia’s foreign trade and investment agency. ????Belgium is China’s sixth-largest trade partner in the European Union and Shenzhen has relocated its European office from Germany to Brussels, Liu said. | 