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CII to open east Asia headquarters in Shanghai

PTI - Beijing

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will re-enter China in a big way next week by opening its east Asia headquarters as well as launching an innovative ‘India Club’ in the booming Communist nation’s commercial capital, Shanghai.

“We are getting ready for the opening of CII’s east Asia headquarters in Shanghai which would also see the launch of ‘India Club’ that would facilitate greater interaction between Indian and Chinese business communities,” head, CII international, Mr Piyush Bahl said.

The CII office is expected to be launched on June 26 by the Union commerce minister Mr Arun Jaitley, who is expected to be part of the prime minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s delegation that is scheduled to visit China from June 22 to 27.

Apart from China, the CII east Asia office would be responsible for countries like South Korea and Japan, which are currently managed from CII headquarters in New Delhi. CII had a representative office in Shanghai which was closed down about four years back. Mr Bahl, who is set to head CII’s east Asia office said the apex business body has already acquired 600 square metres of prime property at ‘Shanghai Mart’, which is China’s first, largest and only permanent showcase for international manufacturers to exhibit their products and services.

‘India Club’ in China aims to provide a platform for enhancing trade and investment and strategic partnerships between Indian and Chinese businesses, he said, adding that it would be an “ideal opportunity” for private and public sector companies and state governments to open their window to China, considered the world’s fastest growing market. ‘India Club’ has been designed as CII’s one-stop-shop for promoting India-China bilateral economic and trade cooperation, Mr Bahl said, adding that members of the India Club will have the benefit of conducting business with China through ‘unmanned’ representative offices in Shanghai.

CII east-Asia plans to recruit a core team of skilled CII professionals, including native Chinese, with domain knowledge of the Chinese market. The CII plans to have a ‘soft launch’ of the ‘India Club’ on June 26 and it hopes to officially launch the project on October 1, when the apex body kicks off a series of high-profile business exhibitions and seminars in Beijing.