Hundreds gather for the signing of a series of investment agreements.

Wang and an assistant, Zheng Junfeng, present their area to me – a 50km² State-level development zone in the southwest of the city directed towards automotive, optical electronics, bio-pharmaceuticals, IT software and hardware, and new materials. Twenty of the world's top companies are already there, including Volkswagen, Siemens, Henkel, Toyota, Itochu, and Sumitomo.

But they emphasise that CHIDA has a holistic view of investment and development, focusing on residential and lifestyle provision as well as industrial development. Indeed one of the projects that most excites Mr Wang is a Golf Development to the south of the CHIDA zone – an attractive countryside setting around a lake bordered by mature trees – which already has full planning permission up to State level, a considerable advantage in a situation where an excess of provision in the south of China has made approval for new Golf Developments hard to secure.

Lake, forest and countryside setting for CHIDA Golf Development

Also present at the Fair and planning aggressive marketing of their cities to Middle Eastern Investors are two other Jilin Province Mayors, Yang Yuqing of Tonghua City and Liu Xijie of Siping City. Both have a range of attractive investment projects to offer, but each has something specific to propose that will certainly attract the attention of the Middle East as well.

Outside of China, the most concentrated area of building development in the world is centered on The Gulf States, in particular Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and probably best-known of all, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. As demand has exploded in construction commodities, developers in the Gulf have found themselves increasingly squeezed in buying. Cement and steel are particularly problematic, and developers are now spreading their sourcing enquiries to new and previously uninvestigated territories.

It so happens that Tonghua City is a major producer of steel, and Siping City is a major producer of cement. Both are handily placed to ship through Dalian, and as commodity prices increase, any additional transport premium becomes an ever-smaller factor in the equation. Both Mr Yang and Mr Liu are confident that they have the means to bring Gulf businessmen to their cities in search of supplies, and that once there they will find other business opportunities to retain their interest.

(China.org.cn September 5, 2008)