EU-China Business Summit – Chengdu 2019

I was recently in Chengdu, in the western part of China to attend the EU-China Business Summit. Chengdu is known for it’s green approach to city building as well as housing the world’s largest panda sanctuary. What strikes you about Chengdu is not only the extent of the size and scale, it has the largest building by square foot in the world but it’s the relaxed city layout. Cycle lanes, trees everywhere and large boulevards gives you a sense of a well-planned and green city. What is more impressive about Chengdu is simply the size, the scale and the growth of the local economy, it’s rated as the best city for business in China currently with an annual growth rate of over 8% in GDP. It also is enormously well connected to the rest of the world with train links all the way through to Germany. We talked about the opportunities, challenges and structures that you could use to promote further green growth in the country. An enjoyable trip one where I learnt a lot and I’ll certainly be back!