Gansu seeks more economic, trade engagements

A delegation from Northwest China's Gansu province visited New York on Wednesday to engage in economic, cultural and tourism exchanges with the United States for sustainable development.

"Although China and the US are separated by thousands of miles, they have close economic and trade ties and complementary interests, making them natural partners," Zhang Jingang, Gansu's vice-governor, said.

Gansu is not only a critical hub and commercial nexus on the Silk Road, but it also boasts strategic importance with its abundant resources, dynamic industries and vibrant culture.

"Traditional industries such as petroleum, chemicals and technology and equipment manufacturing are accelerating their upgrades, and emerging industries such as new energy and new materials are continuing to form a relatively complete industrial system," Zhang said.

The clean energy sector, particularly in recent years, has seen swift growth, with wind power capacity ranking third across China, and solar photovoltaic generation capacity leading the nation, he said.

"Moreover, new energy installations now represent 61.3 percent of our province's total power-generation capacity, positioning us second in China in terms of proportion," he said, adding that the province has high potential for green and clean energy that could collaborate with international entities.

"We really feel everything is coming back in a very positive way," said Jonathan Krane of the US-China Green Institute, highlighting the importance of cooperation on green initiatives.

During his recent visit to China, Krane said he observed that China's green energy market is growing.

Representing the institute, Krane signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with the Gansu Provincial People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries to seek more opportunities, green investment and leading technology on energy reserve with the province.

Green initiatives

"We look forward to partnering with Gansu province on green initiatives and also to promote very strong US-China relations," Krane said.

Michael Daly, a Nobel Prize nominee in 2024 and CEO of Amaramco Ltd, leads a company specializing in the production of hydrogen fuels. He said his company will cooperate in the future with Gansu and China.

"The Chinese marketplace moves very, very fast. They're constantly innovative," Daly told China Daily. "Their destination is to be one of the greenest countries in the world, and we'd like to bring our technology there and help them establish a new regime in the area of fuel efficiency."

Both nations are making efforts to realize the objectives of the "San Francisco vision", a result of the November 2023 summit between leaders of China and the US.

Chinese Consul General in New York Huang Ping said the current processing time for business visas has been reduced to four days, which streamlines the pathway for enhanced business collaboration between China and the US.

With the Chinese economy now on stable ground, there is an optimistic outlook for more US enterprises to "move ahead", exploring further avenues for cooperation and investment in promising sectors, Huang said.