Press conference on Beijing Olympic Games and China's economic development _Live Cast

活动标题

Press conference on Beijing Olympic Games and China's economic development

活动描述

On August 17, a press conference on Olympics and China's economic development is held at the 2008 Beijing International Media Center (2008 BIMC). Several officials brief the media. China.org.cn presents live coverage of the press conference.

文字内容：

Yang Yi:

Friends from the press，good afternoon. Now the Olympic Games are going on, besides your interest in the Games you have also shown keen interest in China's economy growth in particular the impact of the Olympic Games on China's economy therefore we have invited here four guests to discuss with you China's economic growth. They are: Mr. Wang Yiming, Vice President of Academy of Macroeconomic Research, National Development and Reform Commission; Mr. Yang Kaizhong, President of Beijing Economic and Social Development Research Institute; Mr. Wang Tianwei, President of Tianjin Economic Research Institute; Mr. Liu Qitao, Director of Division of National Economy, Qingdao Municipal Development and Reform Commission.

Now I first give the floor to Mr. Wang

2008-08-17 13:55:23
Wang Yiming:

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Good afternoon! It's a pleasure to me to have this opportunity to come here to meet you and I and my colleagues will be pleased to answer your questions but before answering your questions I would like to give you a briefing first as your background. To host a high standard Olympic Games is a solid commitment China made to the world and an important opportunity driving China's economic growth. Beijing was awarded the Games in 2001; after that China's economy enjoyed 7 consecutive years of growth and this lasted a long time and progressed steadily; it was unprecedented since the reform and opening up. From 2001-2007, China's GDP grew by 10.5% every year. There were many facts behind the growth.

2008-08-17 13:57:38
Wang Yiming:

They are foreign demand and others. The Olympic Games made china open wider to the rest of the world and further help China's economy to be included into the global one. In 2008, the Olympic Games was held in Beijing and also this is the time for the adjustment and readjustment of China's economic development. After the Olympic Games the investment in the Olympic-related fields – investment in venues and infrastructure will decline. And consumer demands driven by tourism will also decline. Despite all this, the basic driving forces sustaining China's fast economic growth will remain unchanged. The investment in Olympics-related infrastructure accounts for only a small part of China's total investment scale.

2008-08-17 13:58:55
Wang Yiming :
So Olympic Games will not change the overall trend of China's steady growth and will not impact China's economic growth potentials and fundamentals. We can look to the following areas: first the basic factors of China's economy remained unchanged in the past seven years; China has enjoyed fast growth mainly because of high savings rate and large investment in urbanization and infrastructure and consumption structure improvement but we still have large market potential and activity and we actively take part in economic globalization. All these will remain unchanged. Actually, Beijing accounts for in 2007 only 3.6% of China's national economy and investment in Olympic venues and infrastructure was about 300 billion RMB. That was the total number.

2008-08-17 13:59:43
Wang Yiming:

But this number, divided into four parts, only accounts for 0.55%－1.06% in China's annual amount in capital asserts investment. The third fact was China is in the mid-stage or urbanization and China's GDP was 2,500 USD-way below that of developed countries. So there is still a lot of space for development. The fourth element: to keep continuous, steady economic growth we have adopted measures and will take some new measures to achieve this goal. We will increase domestic demand and will promote healthy growth of real estate structure. This will prevent dramatic ups and downs of China's economy and provide steady economic growth of course. We face new challenges. Global economic environment has changed a lot. Foreign demands are not go well in some fields and hence China's economic growth has dwindled. So China's economy is facing the challenge of restructuring after the Olympics Games.

2008-08-17 14:00:07
Wang Yiming:

The Olympics Games' impact will also be declining and even gone so we should magnify or maximize the positive impact on China's economy brought by the Olympic Games and minimize the negative impact. We should use the Olympics-related infrastructures to improve the quality of life for the Chinese general public, for example, the newly built subway and urban construction and the sports venues. we should bring them into full use. And secondly, we need to carry out the ideals of green Olympics, high tech Olympics, and people's Olympics.

2008-08-17 14:02:46
Wang Yiming :

By saying green Olympics we should stress environment protection and decrease consumption of energy, promote innovation. Meanwhile, we should also put people first and accelerate the development of our cultural programs.

And thirdly, we should make full use of the driving impact of Olympic Games on modern service sector such as fin insurance, business service logistics, info transmission, real estate, conventions and exhibitions and tourism. We should also make the host and co-host cities play a radiating role and let them help the surrounding cities to grow. We should also carry on the Olympic spirit.

2008-08-17 14:03:25
Wang Yiming :
This I think will have a more far-reaching influence on China's economy. It will improve China's image and raise the profile of Chinese citizens and enrich the culture. So after the Olympic Games China will be more open and more active in global economy. Thank you. And now my colleagues and I will be interested in answering questions, thank you.
2008-08-17 14:05:20
Phoenix TV:

People have been expecting the Olympic Games to boost China's economic development. However in the past two weeks we have seen the largest single week decline in stock exchange market in Hong Kong and Shenzhen in 8 weeks, and the general public have been somewhat disappointed with the impact of so-called "Olympic Games economy". Could you please analyze for us the correlation between Olympic Games market and China's economy?

2008-08-17 14:07:39
Yang Kaizhong:

Indeed, during the Olympic Games, Chinese stock market has been declining, with the Shanghai market closing at 2,437.08 on August 14. In my personal views, I don't think the adjustment of the stock market in China has been closely related to the Olympic Games since the adjustment actually started in the later half of last year. From a historical perspective, during the year of the Olympic Games, some hosting countries, like the United States and South Korea, experienced sharp increase in stock market. But some others, such as such as Spain and Australia, either experienced a decline or saw no changes in their stock markets.

2008-08-17 14:10:18
Yang Kaizhong :

There are various factors affecting Chinese stock market. From the perspective of macro economy, the U.S subprime mortgage crisis, the slowdown in global economy and the increasingly serious financial crisis have all exerted impact on the Chinese economy. As a result, the Chinese economy is facing growing uncertainties, and Chinese investors' risk awareness has been increasing too.

Secondly, we have been seeing soaring prices of crude oils, mineral materials and food in the world market. Affected by depreciation of US dollar, the cost of production in China has been on the rise, therefore investors have been worried about profits of the manufacturers and listed companies.

2008-08-17 14:10:29
Yang Kaizhong :

Of course the system of China's stock market should be further improved; and this is an important factor to ensure a healthy development of the market.

The future development of the stock market will be determined by fundamentals of China's economy. At present, Chinese economy has maintained the good momentum of fast but steady growth. The list companies will soon release their performance reports for the first half of this year, and I expect more of the list companies to report an upward trend of their profits.

I believe for some time in the future, the stock market will rebound to a reasonable level.

2008-08-17 14:10:51
China Daily:
I have two questions. The first is to Mr. Yang Kaizhong. There has been reports saying that the role of the Olympic Games in boosting China's economy will end with conclusion of the Games. What's your comment on this? My second question is directed to Mr. Wang Yiming. CPI has been decreasing on a monthly basis some experts believe this will help improve the market-based mechanism. What's your comment on this and do you think after the Olympic Games the prices for petroleum products and power will be further adjusted?
2008-08-17 14:18:05
Yang Kaizhong:

Thank you for your questions. You have raised very good questions. During the preparation for the Beijing Olympic Games the increase of investment and the boost of consumption in Beijing have boosted our economic development. Of course different parties have different estimate in role of the Olympic Games in economic growth as far as we are concerned we believe the Olympic Games has contributed to one percent of the growth so some people are wondering if such a role will be gone with the end of the Olympic Games. I don't think so. I think that after the Olympic Games it will continue to have some part of promotion on Beijing's economic growth.

As we know Beijing is developing into an international city with a large population. As Beijing is striving to become the world-class city it is confronting with some big restrictions and one of the biggest is lack of pillar industries in its development.

2008-08-17 14:20:05
Yang Kaizhong :

Ever since the year 2001 guided by the concept of a high-tech, people's and green Olympics, Beijing municipal government has been working hard to combine the preparation for the Olympic Games with the efforts to meet the long-term needs of the city of economic and social development and in this process we have creatively worked to create a longstanding Olympic legacy for this city and according to my observations, the Olympic games will have eight major legacies for Beijing.

First the legacy of innovative spirit, second the legacy of knowledge including scientific, cultural and marketing knowledge, the third is the cultural legacy, the fourth is the legacy of talents. During the Olympic Games we have active legacy of public in preparation for the Olympic Games and in this process we have improved cultural and scientific standards with good management personnel. Fifthly the legacy of customers and social assets as we know the viewing rate of the Olympic Games in Beijing has been very high at home and abroad.

2008-08-17 14:24:12
Yang Kaizhong :
The sixth is the material legacy, the seventh is the infrastructure and the eighth is the financial legacy. Actually Beijing municipal government set the goals for development of city as early as in the 1990s and that is to develop Beijing into world class modern metropolis according to the instruction of the State Council in 2005 with regard to the master development plan in Beijing, Beijing will mainly take three steps to maintain its object. Firstly it will strive to become one of the first cities in china to achieve basic modernization to lay good foundation and to lay sound structure to become an international metropolis.
2008-08-17 14:26:49
Yang Kaizhong :
Secondly to establish Beijing's status as world-class metropolis and achieve the goal of becoming the world class city. By the year of 2050 to become the world first class international city. Thanks to years of efforts for the Olympic Games Beijing municipal government has already achieved goals for the first stage and has already entered the second stage of development to become an international metropolis. The two years following the Beijing Olympic Games which last till the year 2010 will be the second phase for Beijing's development. During this phase the goal for Beijing municipal government is to develop the high-tech industries with international competitive edge.
2008-08-17 14:27:28
Yang Kaizhong:

These Industries include the high technology Industry, the service industry, industries for financial and production, the cultural industry, tourism, sports conventions and exhibitions and entertainment industry and sci-tech research programs. I believe those Industries and areas are corresponding with the eight legacies I described just now and because of the development of these industries the eight legacies will be put into effective use so as too further boost the economic development of Beijing. I personally believe that about three years after the Olympic Games those legacies will play a most pivotal role in stimulating Beijing's development.

2008-08-17 14:28:57
Yang Kaizhong :

The related industries such as the tourism, culture and sports conventions and exhibitions will expect rapid development and will become the new stimulus of Beijing's economic development so that's why I have been saying that the Olympic Games will play a part in promoting Beijing's economic development. If we say that the role of boosting the Beijing economic development by the Olympic Games during the preparation period was demand generated after the Olympic Games the boost will come from the supply side.

So I suggest that all of you and including myself should seize the opportunity that will be generated in post Olympics era in boosting Beijing's economic development. And the great concept of "New Beijing, Great Olympic Games" is strategic thinking and will not be outdated.

2008-08-17 14:32:36
Wang Yiming:

Concerning CPI, we have been seeing a decline in China's CPI from 7.7 in May to 7.1 in Jun and further to 6.3 in July. This shows that our macro economic policies have paid off. I think there will be room for further decline of CPI in the latter half of this year, but to what extent will be determined by whether the global energy and material prices can be stabilized and also by how much the cost will rise.

The theme song of the Beijing Olympic Games is named "You and me", and some people have jokingly called it "oil and rice" (Chinese: You he Mi). We have felt the pressure of rising prices and the cost generating pressure is still considered large.

2008-08-17 14:34:32
Wang Yiming :

With the decline of CPI, we'll have a better environment for reforming the prices of resource products. The current prices for the resource-based products are cheap. If they are not to be set at a reasonable level, it will result in excessive demand for raw materials. This will not be helpful for our effort to conserve energy and reduce emission. So it will be a press and urgent task for us to solve the issue.

For the next-step reform, I think we should work out a strategic plan for foster a pricing mechanism which take into account market supply and demand, the cost of production, and the environmental cost. In the meantime, I think we should subsidize consumers instead of producers.

2008-08-17 14:38:28
Xinhua News Agency:
My first question is for Mr. Wang. In your opening remarks you said the Olympic Games will bring broth opportunities and challenges to China. So would you please specify on what kind of challenges we will face in China's real estate market in Olympic Games and my second question is for another Mr. Wang from Tianjin. Tianjin is the co-host city for the Olympic Games. It is closest to Beijing, and my second question is: What kind of economic benefits do you think the Olympics will bring to Tianjin? Thank you.
2008-08-17 14:44:15
Wang Yiming:
I thank you for your question. Actually, the correlation between the Olympic Games and the real estate or property market depends on different places. It's hard for us to get a universal rule. It's the same case either in the economy or in the stock market or in the property market; it differs in different cases. In some cities after Olympic Games the property prices dropped, but in some other cities the price instead of dropping increased, so we do not have the ability to asses an answer to this question.
2008-08-17 14:45:26
Wang Yiming :
Actually in the past seven years since Beijing was awarded the Games the growth of real estate market in China as a whole was mainly determined by accelerating process of China's urbanization and reform of China's housing system. In the past seven years the rate of urbanization in China was growing at a rate of about 1.2% every year. A lot of people have come to cities, which has driven up the demand for houses and that is a basic element or reason behind the rise in the house prices. Actually, since 2001 ratio of the investment in property market in the total investment in fixed assets has been increasing: in 2001 the ratio was 15%, after 2001 it rose to 17% and even to 18.42 percent last year -- this was about 1/5.
2008-08-17 14:47:33
Wang Yiming :
So the acceleration process of urbanization has played a major role in driving growth of real estate market. In Beijing, after 2001, the investment in real estate market was over 50% in fixed assets investment and that figure hit a record high in 2004 of 58.27%. But as for the direct relationship between real estate market and Olympic Games, it's hard to say because in the past years the investment in Beijing's real estate market and total investment in fixed assets was actually dropping in 2007 -- it dropped to 50.2%; so its hard to say what kind of direct relationship between these two but definitely it has an indirect influence.
2008-08-17 14:49:14
Wang Yiming :
Since the second half of last year there have been some changes in the real estate market. Of course the investment in the real estate market has been still quite considerate, because from January to July the investment was, I think, still over 30 percent in growth. The main changes took place in the area of sales because we can see a majority of players in that market are still waiting and in some places, the market even seemed to be a little bit bleak. But in the long run, I think it is a positive development because in some sense these phenomena can squeeze out some bubbles in the real estate market. But of course from a long term point of view China's real estate market is still positive. As I said earlier, China's urbanization rate is still way below the world's average.
2008-08-17 14:52:03
Wang Yiming:
In the coming years, I believe China's urbanization rate will continue to grow at least 1% point ever year which means a lot of people will still continue to come into cities. In the past even years since Beijing was award the Games the population in Beijing grew by 2.1 million and that has a dramatic impact on the demand in houses and that has been further augmented by scarcity of land resources in China. In the long run, I still think China's real estate market will give us reasons for optimism and after some adjustment there will be some robust grown in China's real estate market. Finally I think to maintain sound growth of real estate market, it is essential for sound growth of China's national economy as a whole because as I mentioned earlier the rate of investment in real estate market is about 1/5th in overall investment in fixed assets so that real estate market has played an important role in maintaining a sound general growth. Appropriate measures will be worked out to insure the sound growth of the real estate market.
2008-08-17 14:56:42
Wang Tianwei:

Tianjin is one of the co-host cities of the Beijing Olympic Games and through co-hosting the Games we have improved the functions of the city strengthening our economic power and promising the sound and fast growth of our economy. The Beijing Olympic Games have had an obvious impact on our economy, and this impact will stay for a long time. This can be demonstrated in the following areas.

First co-hosting the Beijing Olympic Games has injected new vigor and vitality and promoted new dynamism in promoting development. Since the 1990s Tianjin has enjoyed an unprecedented 17 years of fast economic growth. In the 7 years of preparation for co-hosting the Games, the average annual economic growth rate was fifteen percent.

2008-08-17 14:58:45
Wang Tianwei :

And in the past seven years the economy grew 1.4 times and in this time of fast economic growth, Tianjin has benefited a lot from co-hosting the Games. In 2006 the econ growth rate was 14.5 percent and the figure rose to 15.1 in 2007. From Jan. to Jul. the growth rate of Tianjin's economy has stood at 16.7 percent so the economic growth shows that the Beijing Olympic Games' driving of economic growth has been gradually felt.

The second is that Beijing Olympic Games has greatly improved the outlook and environment of the city of Tianjin. In the past seven years Tianjin carried out a total of 151 environment projects: renovating 4,300 buildings and updating 400 historical buildings, newly building 80 million square meters of green-land and 60 million square meters of green belt. Tianjin has also made efforts to manage and maintain environment: cleaning rivers and improving waste treatment and managing air pollution so now in Tianjin you will see blue sky, green trees and broader roads.

2008-08-17 15:02:04
Wang Tianwei:
Third, to co-host Beijing Olympic Games all our measures and efforts have been developed to improved infrastructure and transport systems in Tianjin. In terms of port, we have built a 250,000-ton of port shipping lane and quite a number of professional yards and the first phase of Dongjiang bonded zone whose area is 4 sq km has already been put into use; and Lingang project has also accelerated. In terms of airport we have expanded and renovated our airport and the new terminal is now in use, which has greatly increased the handling capacity of Tianjin's airport. In terms of railway, the express railway of Beijing to Tianjin was built and put into use and we have built the express highway in the city; we have newly built 30 km of express road and we have also renovated some trunk lines in the city, we have also built 8 bridges across the Haihe River; so all the service projects have not only improved the infrastructure and transportation structure but also played essential role in promote the development of Tianjin's surrounding areas.
2008-08-17 15:05:45
Wang Tianwei :
Fourth, through co-hosting the Beijing Olympic Games the economies of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei have been further integrated. Tianjin is now cooperating with Beijing to foster an industrial belt along the express highway and railway Tianjin is also now having effective cooperation with Cangzhou, Langfang and Tangshan of Hebei and Dezhou and Binzhou of Shandong in terms of industrial supporting facilities and operation.
2008-08-17 15:08:37
Wang Tianwei:
Fifth, the ideas of the Beijing Olympic Games, namely, "green Olympics, high-tech Olympics, and people's Olympics" will have a positive role in every aspect of Tianjin's people's life including low carbon performance, the growth of circular economy, and protection of environment. Anyway, we think the positive role of the Beijing Olympic Games in terms of promoting economic growth of Tianjin is being felt and will be further highlighted in the future.
2008-08-17 15:12:53
People's Daily:

For a short term the hosting of the Olympic Games will increase the demand of labor force but after the Olympic Games, do you think there will be a surplus of labor force and an increase in unemployment rate? And my second question is for Mr. Liu. We all know Qingdao is the host for the sailing events in the Olympic Games, but we know sailing is not a high profile event in china. So what kind of role can it play in promoting economic growth in Qingdao?

2008-08-17 15:13:35
Wang Yiming:

Of course the host city of Beijing Olympic Games and other co-host cities have created many job opportunities. Based on data provided by the Beijing statistics bureau, from 2005 – 2006, 1.5 million new job opportunities were generated and this figure is much higher than that in other cities who once hosted the Olympic Games, for example in Seoul the figure was 300,000 and in Sydney that was 150,000 so 1.5 million that figure was quite positive in promoting employment.

As a matter of fact most of the newly created job opportunities have been found in the service and modern service sector. The newly created job opportunities will help the laborers improve their qualification skills and their mentality in opening themselves to the outside world.

2008-08-17 15:13:59
Wang Yiming :
Some people have the concerns that after the Beijing Olympic Games jobs related to the Games will be lost. I don't think there will be such a risk because even after the Beijing Olympic Games investment in the infrastructure sector will continue to be very big. The investment in the Olympic stadiums and venues has been about less than 13 billion RMB and there will be follow-up investment in Beijing's development, for example currently the total length of underground train is only 200km and Beijing has plan to increase its underground train to 500 km by the year 2015 so new investment will be made in many more areas according to the plan of Beijing. Furthermore Beijing is striving to improve the building of a new city and upgrade the functions of a new city and jobs that may be lost in the Olympic venue related areas may be transferred to other areas of construction.
2008-08-17 15:14:44
Wang Yiming :
On top of that Shanghai will host World Exposition and Guangzhou will host the Asia Games so jobs may be shifted to these two areas. Most areas of labor affected are the migrant laborers who come to cities to seek jobs. In the future when the construction in Beijing is completed they will move to other sites. Some of the job opportunities created thanks to the Olympic Games will stay on particularly in such sectors as modern services, including finance, communication, postal services, logistics, and advertisement. According to international experiences, about 20% of such jobs will stay on. Why so? This is because these service sections have been originally lagging behind in our overall social economic development and there have been demands for their development so the hosting of the Olympic Games these jobs have been created and after the Olympic Games they will stay on.
2008-08-17 15:17:50
Wang Yiming :
Thirdly the international practice standards have been adopted in Beijing Olympic Games those will have succeeded in landing a job at the Olympic Games are highly qualified ant this has put them in a highly-competent position in the labor market in terms of mentality, skills, qualifications, and experience -- so there's no need for us to worry about their future. Finally due to the dwindling of international demands and appreciation of Chinese RMB and the soaring international energy prices, and some export oriented small-and-medium sized enterprises in China's coastal areas have faced some employment difficulties, however such a situation has not been caused by the Olympic Games but has something to do with changes in international development. The government has adopted creditable measures for boosting employment in those areas.
2008-08-17 15:23:14
Yang Kaizhong:
Let me make some supplemental remarks from the Beijing perspective. I think in the final analysis, it is a question of whether the economic momentum of fast and sound growth will continue after the Olympic Games. Here, let me share with you two of my observations. Firstly the Beijing Olympic Games has indeed given a strong impetus to the sound and fast growth of Beijing's economy. However it has not been the most decisive factor. The annual average growth rate of the GDP during the seven years of preparation for the Beijing Olympic Games represents an increase of 1.5 % over seven years, ahead of that and during the corresponding period before that, the national average GDP growth was 0.4 percent and that of Shanghai was 0.1%, so compared with that of Shanghai and the national figure Beijing has increased faster by 1.1% and 1.3% respectively. Even if we attribute all of the increasing margin to the preparation for the Olympic Games, the Games has contributed to only 10% of Beijing's economic growth, so we can fairly say that the Beijing Olympic Games is not the most decisive factor in ensuring the fast growth of the city.
2008-08-17 15:25:39
Yang Kaizhong :
I think in addition to the sound and peaceful international environment, there are two more important factors for the fast and sound economic growth in Beijing. Firstly, overall China's economy has been in a stage of fast and sound growth. Secondly in this process of development, Beijing enjoys a high concentration of competitive edge. The second personal view I would like to share with friends from the media is that we have four reasons to say that Beijing will continue to enjoy fast and sound growth even after the Olympic Games.
2008-08-17 15:27:13
Yang Kaizhong :
Firstly, despite the important development China has enjoyed, its per capita GDP is still quite low and on the other hand however, China has become the fourth-largest economy in the world and has basically completed its infrastructure building but in the economic process there is the self-driving growth mechanism. Based on this, we believe even after the Beijing Olympic Games the Chinese economy will continue to show good momentum of fast and steady growth. Secondly in terms of the pattern of economic growth, China has been shifting from relying on increased investment in factories for production to relying on increased production of labor forces and enhancing innovation ability. Such a shift will give great advantages to Beijing municipality and even better opportunities as Beijing is international center for talent and technological innovation. Thirdly we believe that after the Olympic Games Beijing as a city will enjoy robust demand for investment and consumption. As of the year 2006, in terms of consumption, the final consumer consumption has overtaken capital investment as the first factor in promoting Beijing's economic development.
2008-08-17 15:30:26
Yang Kaizhong :
On top of that there are also three great demands for investment, firstly in the development of the city and the underground trains and transportation facilities. And such demands include the development of the seven parts of Beijing, the development of key parts of the city as a new city, the development of rail and underground lines, the building of new Beijing airports and the development of key townships in Beijing. So personally I believe that the investment after the Olympic Games will increase instead of decrease compared with the preparations of the Olympic Games, and I foresee in the following seven years the total length of underground trains and railway lines will amount to at least 360 km.
2008-08-17 15:35:01
Yang Kaizhong :
This number is much bigger than the 149 km constructed during the 7-year period of preparation for the Olympic Games. The second major source of demand for investment lies in the increasing development of high-tech Industries. And this will boost the development of infrastructure development of innovation in major Industries, development of professions and talents and the development of real estate sector. The third source is the development of sound systems. In the future we will build a forest park in the new city and build an environmental city to make sure this is a good habitat for people living in Beijing. And all of this will considerably boost demand for investment. Last but not least as I stated before, the legacy of the Olympic Games will continue to sustain the development of Beijing. So I believe after the Olympic Games there will not be serious problems of employment in this city.
2008-08-17 15:38:43
Liu Qitao:

Thank you very much for your interest in the sailing event in Qingdao and the development in my city. By involving Qingdao in the Olympic Games which is the most influential and largest sports event in the world, Qingdao will undoubtedly enjoy a boom in economic and social development. Other experts have already elaborated on this at great length and I will let what they say stand. I believe that although the sailing events are much smaller than overall Olympic Games in terms of scale and number, participation in them – given the character and advantages of my city – fits well and will provide a positive role of promoting urbanization and improving other aspects of the city.

2008-08-17 15:39:28
Liu Qitao:

Over the past several years, we have strived to turn the process of preparations for the Olympic Games into a process to stimulate local economic growth and speed urbanization to help improve the livelihood of people. It is also a process in which Qingdao can communicate with the rest of the World and further integrate itself into the rest of the world.

During the process, Qingdao has benefited a lot from Olympic Games by increasing investment and consumption and improving the service sector. According to a joint research by Qingdao University of Science and Technology and the Development Research Center of the State Council, from 2001 to 2007, the increased investment and consumption and improved service sectors have contributed 4.5% to the city's GDP, which is a 0.8 percent increase on a yearly basis.

2008-08-17 15:41:23
Liu Qitao:

According to our research and studies, the sailing event has already boosted development of the following four sectors. First, tourism: In the year 2007, the revenue from the tourism industry reached 40 billion yuan and over 33 million visitors came to Qingdao, which are respectively 3.4 and 2.2 times those numbers of 2001.

Second, the event has considerably contributed to the development of the logistics industry. Now in Qingdao there are 1,300 logistics enterprises, of which 70 were founded with foreign capital. The added value of this industry makes up 20% of the service industry.

Third, the event has boosted the development of the information service industry. In the year 2006, the East Asian Cable network landed in Qingdao; and in July this year the national software and integrate circuit service platform was established in the city.

2008-08-17 15:42:35
Liu Qitao :
Fourth, with the preparations for the sailing event gradually unfolding, we have organized on a regular basis the International Qingdao Beer Festival, the Qingdao Maritime Festival and the Maritime Consumer and Electronics Expo. All these events have attracted a large number of domestic and foreign visitors. Last year we organized 81 conferences and expos and attracted 1.75 million visitors from home and abroad. The added value of the conference and exhibition sector has registered an annual growth of 18% in the past a few years.
2008-08-17 15:44:40
Liu Qitao :
We also see the post-sailing-event prospect of the economy in following three aspects: Firstly the service sector – particularly information, logistics and tourism – will continue to grow. Secondly, those environmentally friendly technologies, such as solar heating and cooling systems, and wind energy, used in the construction of venues for sailing events will be applied in a much wider scale after the Games.
2008-08-17 15:46:38
Liu Qitao :
Thirdly, hosting the sailing events is also a process of Qingdao going out to reach the rest of world, and the world coming to know more about Qingdao. It helps to promote understanding and relations between Qingdao and the rest of the world. This kind of impact will last for quite some time.
2008-08-17 15:48:16
Yang Yi:

This press conference comes to two hours. Maybe it's the longest one held at this media center. Thank you.

2008-08-17 15:52:58

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