German giant Siemens signed more than 10 agreements with big Chinese companies yesterday in a bid to cash in on China’s international infrastructure push, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The partnerships are with state-owned groups such as China Gezhouba Group, China Railway Construction Corporation, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and others, and promise cooperation in areas such as power generation, building technology and manufacturing.
Siemens said they will examine opportunities in Indonesia, the Philippines, Nigeria, Mozambique and South America.
The company held a "Belt and Road International Summit" in Beijing to ink the deals. It said more than 1,000 representatives from governments, enterprises, investors, financial institutions and think tanks from more than 30 countries and regions attended.
"BRI has proven to be a wise and powerful force for accelerating infrastructure development already in many participating countries," Joe Kaeser, president and chief executive of Siemens, stated in a press release.
"Siemens is uniquely positioned to help ensure sustainable success of the BRI through its vast technology portfolio, in-depth knowledge of local market needs based on a long-standing local footprint in the respective economies as well as the ability to create local value for these societies."
The company has set up a new "BRI Office" in Beijing, headed by Carsten Hasbach, who is head of business development in Russia.
Image: Joe Kaeser, centre, president and chief executive of Siemens, at the BRI Summit in Beijing, 6 June 2018 (Siemens)
