Chengdu ready to push for innovation, sustainable growth

Leaders of Fortune Global 500 companies gathered in Chengdu on Thursday to show their commitment to the capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, before the opening of this year's Fortune Global Forum. Chengdu is hosting the Fortune Global Forum, which began on Thursday afternoon.

DuPont set up an office in Chengdu last year, and signed a pact with Chengdu-based Sichuan University to co-develop advanced technologies such as fire-resistant materials, Ellen Kullman, CEO of the US chemical giant, told a roundtable co-organized by US-based Fortune magazine and China Central Television in Chengdu on Thursday morning.

The next step for the company, Kullman said, is to build an innovation center in the city in the near future, which will allow scientists and engineers to come together to create materials for use in products such as Geely's future clean vehicles and Lafarge's clean cement.

Both Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co, owner of Swedish car brand Volvo, and French building material producer Lafarge SA have a presence in Chengdu.

Geely has already started manufacturing sport utility vehicles in Chengdu, and will soon begin producing the Volvo S60L - a stretched version of the Volvo S60 - in its new factories in Chengdu in August, Li Shufu, CEO of the Chinese automaker, said at the same event.

"In Chengdu, we've built the safest and cleanest plant in the world," said Bruno Lafont, CEO of Lafarge.

Lafont says he also appreciates the ease of doing business in Chengdu, as the local government helps facilitate such matters as money transfers and acquiring residence permits for employees, in addition to shutting down smaller local cement producers that were polluting the environment.

So far, 238 Fortune Global 500 companies have a presence in Chengdu, and "the key is to serve the companies that are already here, so that we can attract more to come," Ge Honglin, mayor of Chengdu, told the same forum.

"The government has to be honest" with the incoming enterprises, Ge said, noting that Chengdu takes a long-term development perspective and its officials are always willing to serve the companies.

This long-term thinking is also reflected in the city's "balanced development," which puts emphasis on both the environment and economic growth, according to Ge.

Chengdu's rising car ownership - exceeding 3.1 million units in April this year, second only to Beijing - poses a threat to the environment, Ge said.

But Li said Geely would work on developing hybrid passenger vehicles, such as a gasoline version of the Volvo V60, and electric minibuses in the city to help clean up its air.

At the forum, Ge also promised the support of a municipal research and development fund for Geely's green initiatives in Chengdu.