Subnational trade and economic cooperation are the cornerstone of Sino-U.S. bilateral commercial relations, said a Chinese official at a trade and investment seminar in the capital city of the state of Texas Thursday.
"I encourage entrepreneurs from Chinese provinces and municipalities and the state of Texas to leverage the Joint Working Group on Trade and Investment Cooperation between Chinese provinces and the U.S. state of Texas," said Zhang Xiangchen, deputy China international trade representative.
China and the United States have a highly complementary commercial relationship, which means enormous business opportunities for both sides, Zhang said at the seminar promoting cooperation between Chinese provinces and the U.S. state of Texas.
According to Zhang, since 2012, along with 23 Chinese provinces and municipalities, China's Ministry of Commerce has established six Joint Working Groups on Trade and Investment Cooperation with the U.S. states California, Iowa, Texas, Michigan and Washington, as well as the city of Chicago.
The secretariats of these working groups have been encouraging business participation in the cooperation through organizing project information exchanges, mutual visits of trade missions and trade and investment promotion events, said the official.
As a result of these efforts, there have been more people-to-people exchanges, steady trade and investment growth and conclusion of big projects at the subnational level, he said.
Last November, China's Commerce Ministry and its U.S. counterpart signed a Memorandum of Cooperation between Chinese provinces and Texas, he added.
He hoped that entrepreneurs of both sides will enhance information exchange, create new ways of cooperation, expand win-win opportunities, and increase the scale of cooperation so as to benefit the people from both sides.
Meanwhile, China's Consul General in Houston Li Qiangmin also stressed the importance of subnational cooperation between China and the United States, saying such cooperation should be increased at state and city levels.
Li said that Texas, the second-largest U.S. state, is now playing an important role in China-U.S. cooperation and last year witnessed fast growing trade and investment cooperation between the Lone Star state and China.
Currently, China is Texas's third-largest market and the state's second-largest import resource country. Among the 50 states, Texas ranks as China's No. 2 importer.
Texas, which had a trade volume of 53 billion U.S. dollars with China last year, is the second most popular destination in the United States for Chinese investors, Li said, adding that 127 Chinese companies are located in Texas and providing more than 2,200 jobs for the state, with a total investment of more than 13 billion dollars.
Texas Secretary of State Carlos Cascos also urged entrepreneurs from both sides to strengthen cooperation to obtain win-win results, saying that Texas is willing to expand its cooperation with Chinese provinces through the joint working group.
Jointly organized by China's Commerce Ministry and the Texas state government, the seminar was attended by around 100 entrepreneurs and government officials.
