SwedCham China Chairman Peter Ling-Vannerus Meets with Beijing Vice Mayor Sima Hong

A number of foreign chambers including SwedCham China were invited to a meeting with Beijing Vice Mayor, Sima Hong on June 13th, 2024. Peter Ling-Vannerus, Chairman of SwedCham China, represented the Swedcham members.

The meeting took place in the beautiful new Library in the Tongzhou district. The chambers presented the main issues which are important to foreign companies and there was a long discussion with the leaders of the various departments within the City of Beijing administration such as the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, the Beijing Municipal Intellectual Property Office, the Exit and Entry Administration of Beijing Municipal Public Bureau and the Government of Tongzhou District, who provided replies to most of the points discussed.

The Vice Mayor underlined the importance of foreign companies to the City of Beijing and also presented the recent measures in terms of multilingual hot lines to deal with all problems foreign companies encounter in Beijing and also various tax incentives in the different districts of Beijing. Although it is not within the competence of the city, the Vice Mayor underlined her support for the facilitation of the transfer of cross border data, which is a key issue for many foreign companies. She repeated her commitment to a close and open dialogue between the City of Beijing and the foreign companies present here.