Finance & Taxation Working Group in Nanjing

Expanding on the topic discussed at the September Finance & Taxation Work-ing Group (F&T WG) on "How to man-age the Foreign Exchange Control”, the Working Group went further into the Foreign Exchange .eld at the October 20 F&T WG meeting "How to hedge the foreign exchange risk”. To answer this question, experts with a rich ex-perience in foreign exhange hedging were invited: Mr Orlando Wang, Gen-eral Manager of Rabobank Nederland Shanghai Branch, and Ms Anne Sun, Treasurer of the same bank, presented in detail the Foreign Exchange Regula-tions in China, Foreign Exchange Risk Management Products and RMB Re-lated Foreign Exchange. The European Chamber Nanjing Chapter would like to thank Rabobank Nederland Shanghai Branch for their contribution.

European Chamber Nanjing Chapter holds first golf tournament

On Sunday, October 30, members of the European Chamber Nanjing Chapter took part in the first Golf tournament organized at Gingko Lake International Golf course by the European Chamber.

The winners are:

First Prize: Mien van Hoyvegen, Er-win Sohst, Patrick Heckelmann (gross: 79; net:69)
Second Prize: Trevor Hayes, Paul Van Hoyvegen, Helmut Guesten (gross: 84; net: 74)
Third Prize: Lucasz Wojdmsky, Peter Dols, Barbara Gauduchon (gross: 81; net: 81)
The Pfrang Association was glad to present to the corporate community at the golf tournament, their mission to .ght poverty and related violence by helping Chinese children receive an education.

We would like to address a warm thanks to Nanjing Skyways Food, the most famous catering company in Nan-jing, who kindly sponsored the lunch.

World Bank and European Chamber cooperate on CDM

Giorgio Magistrelli, the Executive Gen-eral Manager of the European Chamber, met Paul Wolfowitz, the new head of the World Bank during his first visit to China. Mr Wolfowitz expressed his appreciation for the support of the European Chamber in the China Development Marketplace (CDM) project, especially in the assist-ing capacity for .nding donors to assist the NGOs.

Membership renewal

European Chamber membership now runs on a year-on-year basis, and renew-al for all members has now begun. For more information about the new mem-bership policy and the membership form please visit the European Chamber web-site at www.europeanchamber.com.cn. As the Chamber further develops as the "voice of European Business in China" we look forward to your renewed sup-port in 2006.

News from Chengdu

EU Consuls Dinner in Chengdu

The Chengdu Chapter held its November Dinner at the Kempinski Hotel on November 2. Nearly one hundred members and participants attended this evening, which was honored by the three EU Consuls from the United Kingdom, Germany and Denmark. Each of them presented their Consulate activities and answered questions from the .oor.

Chengdu Board Elections

The Board elections of the Chengdu Chapter are scheduled to take place in the last week of Novem-ber. Interested members are invited to make their candidacy known before November 20 by email: chengdu@euccc.com.cn

UNIDO Subcon China

United Nations Industrial Program Organization director James Wu presented to the European Chamber Chengdu members its ongoing program and introduced the Subcon China 2005 exhibition that was held in Chongqing November 7 to 10.

Internships in Beijing and Shanghai

Applications are invited for the position of Intern in Beijing and Shanghai in the Marketing depart-ment.

These six-month internships will present the opportunity to gain experience within the areas that the Chamber is involved in, including events, promotion and publications.

Skills required include:
Previous of.ce experience
Excellent interpersonal, organizational, com-munication and social and presentation skills
High degree of accuracy
University degree
Computer literacy, including Outlook, Word, Excel and Internet Explorer
Working language requires perfect English (at written and spoken level), additional languages including Chinese are advantageous.

Upon successful completion of the intern-ship a letter of reference from the Chamber will be provided. Please note that these are unpaid internships.

Applications for this position should be submitted by email, together with a cover letter and a CV to euccc@euccc.com.cn (Beijing) or shanghai@euccc.com.cn (Shanghai).

Lobby Actions

Chamber visits Shanghai Federation of Industry and Commerce On September 26, Thomas Felber, Gener-al Manager of the Shanghai Chapter, met with Madame Ren Wenyan, President of the Shanghai Federation of Industry and Commerce and the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce. The meeting was also attend-ed by Mrs Cherry Yang, Vice Director of the Liaison Department. Both parties expressed their strong interest in further cooperation.

Chamber meets with Economic and Trade Bureau and CCPIT Pudong

Thomas Felber, General Manager of the Shanghai Chapter, met on September 14 with Mr Wang Xin Ling, Vice Director of the Economic and Trade Bureau of Shanghai Pudong New Area, and Qixing Lu, Secretary General of CCPIT Pudong. Main discussion points were the latest de-velopments regarding the establishment of RHQ in Shanghai and Expo 2010. Thomas Felber handed over the Position Paper 2006 to Mr Wang. Both parties are looking forward to tightening their ties in the near future.

Chamber participates in EU-China Regulatory Dialogue

On October 19 and 20, European Cham-ber member companies participated in the EU-China Regulatory dialogue. The dia-logue is an initiative by DG Enterprise of the European Commission and AQSIQ to eliminate obstacles to trade through regu-latory convergence. The meetings provide European business with a valuable chan-nel to feed their concerns and opinions directly to policy makers. The topics dis-cussed during the two days included tech-nical barriers to trade (TBT), standardiza-tion and social standards.

Vice Minister of SCLAO meets with European Chamber

Serge Janssens, the President of the Euro-pean Chamber, met Mr Wang Yongqing, the Vice Minister of the State Council Legisla-tive Affairs Of.ce (SCLAO) and presented the 2005 Position Paper on October 26. Mr Wang appreciated the recommendations raised in the Position Paper and stressed that SCLAO would study all the suggestions and improve China's legislative system more in line with international practice.

IPR and Pharma Working Groups take part EU-China IP Dialogue

The first EU-China IP Working Group meeting took place at MOFCOM on October 18, bringing together Chinese of.cials from a range of ministries linked to IPR, EU IPR experts and European industry representatives. The IP Working Group is part of the IP dialogue, one of approximately 20 sectoral dialogues between China and the EU aimed at disseminating knowledge and promoting shared interest.

Chamber presents Position Paper to DRC

On Wednesday October 26, a delegation from the European Chamber, led by President Serge Janssens de Varebeke, visited the Development Research Center (DRC) to present the 2005 Position Paper, marking the first meeting of this nature that the European Chamber has had with DRC. Sun Xiaoyu, the Vice Minister, re-ceived the delegation and was briefed on the general situation of European business in China, in addition to the main concerns from the members. Vice Minister Sun Xiaoyu encouraged more regular dialogue between DRC think tanks and European Industry.

Chamber presents Position Paper to MII

On October 31, members of the European Chamber IT&T Work-ing Group met Mr. Chen Yin, Deputy DG of the Ministry of In-formation Industry (MII). This was the first time that the Chamber has met with MII to discuss the Position Paper. Mr Chen recog-nized the importance of EU-China trade relations and welcomed the European Chamber's positive role in promoting greater under-standing between European industry and Chinese authorities.

Chamber presents Position Paper to SFDA

On Tuesday November 1, the European Chamber met Mr Chang Wenzuo, DG of International Cooperation Department for the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), to present the 2005 Position Paper. Mr Chang appreciated the cooperation between SFDA and the European Chamber in the past and encouraged more dialogue both at high and technical levels in the future. Mr Chang indicated that the concerns raised in the Position Paper will be dealt with by the relevant departments of SFDA.

Upcoming Chamber Events

Dates and times of events are subject to change. For more information about these events and others and how to register for them, please visit our web-site at www.europeanchamber.com.cn

Beijing

EuroBiz Anniversary
& Christmas Drinks
6pm, Centro, Kerry Centre Hotel
Price: 100 RMB Members, 150 RMB Non-Members
The European Chamber is pleased to welcome you to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of our magazine, EuroBiz, at this festive time of year. En-trance fee includes two free drinks and snacks. Subsequent drinks purchased between 6pm and 8pm are buy-one-get-one-free.


Beijing Vice Mayor Lunch
11am, Capital Club
Price: 350 RMB Members,
450 RMB Non-Members
The European Chamber is de-lighted to welcome the Vice Mayor of Beijing, Mr Lu Hao, as our honoured guest for this oc-casion at which members of the Chamber are invited to partici-pate in a constructive dialogue. There is limited attendance for this event, so please book early if you wish to attend.

Shanghai

Joint Chamber Euro-pean Christmas party
The European Cham-ber will organize a Christmas party together with the British and the German Chambers. The event will be an opportu-nity for social networking and a pre-celebration of the up-coming festivities. Members from the three Chambers are invited to join.

Breakfast Seminar on Arbitration
8am, So.tel Hyland,
505 Nanjing Road East
This seminar breakfast will deal with settling disputes outside of court and will ex-plore alternative dispute res-olution in China. A general introduction to arbitration in China will be given by Na-dia Darwazeh of Shearman & Sterling. Wang Sheng Chang, Secretary General of CIETAC, will discuss about new CIETAC rules, and Ron Cai (Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine) will touch upon mediation in China.

HR Challenges 2006
The First European Chamber HR
Conference
9am, Howard Johnson
Price: Members 500 RMB,
Non members 600 RMB
This event is a full day seminar on the major HR issues con-cerning businesses in China. There will be three panel-based discussions throughout the day on Retention, Localization and the particular issues pertaining to SMEs. We welcome partici-pants from all sectors to attend.

Making a Difference for China's Orphans

Charity Gala Dinner raises more than RMB1.3 million


In agreeing to take the reins of the Char-ity Gala Dinner "Touch An Orphan.s Life" the European Chamber set its sights high. Last year.s gala dinner raised RMB650,000 to help China.s orphans, and this year the Chamber was looking to have more people come, inform more people about the problems facing orphans here in China and also to raise more mon-ey than ever before.

So on November 3, the doors opened and the guests were welcomed to the event with a .urry of activities and gener-ous donations from a variety of people and organizations from all sectors of industry in Beijing, along with strong support from the EU Member State embassies and the Delegation of the European Commission.

This year.s Gala Dinner was organized by the European Chamber and legally sponsored by the China Charity Federa-tion in conjunction with the EU China Managers Association, Operation Bless-ing China, and World Vision China. Pre-viously the Chamber has played a sup-porting role in the event but this is the first year that the Chamber has run the event. All funds raised by the evening are to be put towards projects that provide orphans with life-saving or life-changing surger-ies and with proper medical treatment, as well as bene.ting rural orphans from re-mote areas.

"European business in China is fully committed to corporate social responsibil-ity, and this commitment stretches beyond this event, into our CSR Working Group, which is an area that we have been active with a number of Chinese partners over the previous years," European Chamber Pres-ident Janssens de Varebeke explained. "I am proud to represent this business com-munity who believe so firmly in reaching out and engaging at all levels to provide a brighter future in China."

Once again Nokia was the top level Platinum sponsor. This is the fourth year that Nokia has remained the top sponsor and this continued support has ensured that the event has been able to grow, year on year.

A highlight of this year.s event was that, for the first time ever, it attracted the support of a major Chinese sponsor. Qing-dao-based Saint Milk Powder Company joined Nokia to become the second Platinum sponsor. Saint donated an equivalent of RMB500,000 in both .nancial and in-kind support to the "Touch an Orphan.s Life" initiative. Saint is the first domestic Chinese company to join the ranks of many other multinational corpo-rations who have provided assistance through this successful program in support of orphans. Mr Mu Zhaoxi, the Marketing Director of Saint said "Today, Saint is greatly honored to contrib-ute our resources for impoverished children in China along with other top international corporations such as Nokia, Volkswagen, etc. It is Saint.s desire that disadvantaged children in China will grow up healthily and happily."

It was a tremendous pleasure and a great surprise that at the end of the evening the Chamber President, Serge Janssens de Varebeke, presented a cheque to Operation Blessing and World Vision for over RMB1.36 million, all of which will go to the orphan projects.

The European Chamber is looking forward to continuing this annual event and raising expectations and even more money for orphans in China next year. We hope you will join us again then.

Notable Sponsors

Nokia, Saint, Airbus, Telefonica, Arcelor, Volk-swagen, Ketchum Newscan, PSA Peugeout Citroen, MRI Worldwide, Airplus, China Daily, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Philips, Lufthansa, City Weekend, The Kempinski Hotel, City Weekend and Paul Wurth.

The European Chamber would also like to thank all additional sponsors for their donations, and thanks to Christina Lau, who was a wonder-ful MC.

European Chamber Charity Gala Dinner - The Charities

The China Charity Federation, Op-eration Blessing and World Vision are all non-pro.t organizations operating
China to aid the needy and disad-vantaged.
The China Charity Federation
The China Charity Federation (CCF)
one of the largest Chinese chari-table organizations and one of the few who can issue tax-deductible receipts. The CCF's mission is to "to uphold the spirit of humanitarianism and the Chinese traditional virtues of helping people in poverty or in trouble, help unfortunate individuals and groups of people, and conduct various kinds of social relief work."

Operation Blessing The international charity Operation Blessing has been legally recognized China since 1999, with one of its key focuses on the welfare of China's orphans, though it also has programs addressing the issues of medical care, education, clean water, disaster relief, and community development. Over 155 million people in 96 countries have benefited from Operation Blessing International's programs over the past 25 years. Since 2001, this charity dinner alone has helped over 2,000 Chinese orphans through Operation Blessing China's Orphan Program.

World Vision

World Vision was founded in 1950, and now operates in some 100 countries worldwide. The organization entered China in 1982, and now manages more than 80 relief and anti-poverty projects in more than 14 provinces, cities and au-tonomous regions across the country. World Vision devoted over RMB640 million (approximately US$77.3 million) to China from 1998 to 2004. World Vision China's work with orphans is based in Tianjin, Guangxi, Yunnan and Jilin provinces.