The Sixth ASEM Finance Ministers¡¯ Meeting was successfully held in the Renaissance Tianjin TEDA Hotel in Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) on June 26. It is the first meeting of the ASEM convened after the number of the members of the ASEM increases to 39. And it is the first time to choose the venue in China. Many topics were discussed during the meeting. With its focus on the theme to "promote closer Asia-Europe economic and financial cooperation,¡± the meeting adopted such two documents with great influence on promoting the closer Asia-Europe economic partnership as Chairman's Statement of the Sixth ASEM Finance Ministers¡¯ Meeting and Tianjin Initiative on Closer ASEM Economic and Financial Cooperation. Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council delivered a speech at the opening ceremony.

The ASEM Finance Ministers¡¯ Meeting aims at implementing instructions and decisions on economic and financial issues of the ASEM Summit, promote Asia-Europe economic and financial cooperation through dialogues and consultations, and provide places for communication between economic and financial authorities on issues like macro-economy, economy and finance and capital market development, etc.

Tianjin Dai-Ichi Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd., a Sino-Japanese joint-venture, held an inauguration ceremony for its new factory in the Chemical Industrial Park of TEDA a few days ago.

With a total investment of 5.5 million dollars, Tianjin Dai-Ichi was co-established in February, 1992 by Tianjin Angel Chemicals Group Co., Ltd. and Dai-Ichi Kogyo Seiyaku Co., Ltd. of Japan with the investment proportion of 49:51. It engages in the production and marketing of more than 50 varieties of products that fall into 10 categories such as surfactants and auxiliary agents for the fiber industry.

According to the company information, its sales maintained between 15 million and 18 million between 1992 and November, 2003, and it went up to the highest level in history, 28.11 million yuan, 57.76% more than that of the previous year with the marketing expansion after it moved eastward and built new factories in 2004.  Sales increased by more than 90% between January and May this year compared to the same period last year. The sales of the first half of this year is expected to be more than the total of 2003, and the total of this year is expected to be more than 40 million yuan. According to the corporate medium-term development plan, the sales can go up to more than 65 million yuan by 2007.

Recently a R&D and production base of photoelectric products has commenced its operations in the Microelectronic Industrial Park of TEDA. It was founded by OTBM-Tech Development Ltd. in Tianjin and possesses complete self-owned intellectual property rights. The company has signed a contract for the purchase of 3,800-square-meter factory buildings with the Microelectronic Industrial Park.

It is introduced that OTBM-Tech Development Ltd., which was established in 2000 and registered in the Tianjin New Tech Industrial Park, specializes in the manufacturing of photoelectric products as machines and tools for the financial sector.

Planning to make an investment between 80 million yuan and 100 million yuan to construct a R&D and manufacturing base with complete self-owned intellectual property rights, the company will produce digital identifiers for seals on various documentary evidences, particularly identifiers for seals on financial documentary evidences. In this way the company will develop its photoelectric products into a flagship brand in China¡¯s high and new tech field.

OTBM-Tech Development Ltd. had attained sales income of 33.5 million yuan and net profits of 6.13 million yuan in 2004 and is expected to have its sales reach 130 million yuan.

The opening ceremony of PPG HPC Service Center was recently held in TEDA.

It is learned that PPG HPC Service Center in TEDA is the first architectural coating service center established by PPG Industries, Inc., a Fortune Global 500 corporation, in China. The event marks the expansion of PPG¡¯s operations from the manufacturing to the service sector. The center will offer domestic clients industrial architectural coatings applied to internal and external walls, steel structures, production equipment in workshops and all related services.

Headquartered in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, PPG Industries was founded in 1883. As a world leading chemical corporation and the No.1 manufacturer of transportation coatings, PPG produces a wide range of products such as automotive coatings, aerospace coatings, anticorrosive coatings, packaging coatings, flat glass, fiber glass, specialty chemicals, etc. PPG has 158 manufacturing facilities and R&D institutes with over 34,800 employees in 21 countries. In 2004 PPG ranked first in Fortune¡¯s list of the World¡¯s Most Admired Chemical Companies.

One of the first multinational chemical corporations investing in China, PPG formally entered the country at the end of 1980s. It has established three manufacturing facilities respectively in Tianjin, Suzhou and Kunshan and trading companies, representative offices, labs and training centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, with over 1,400 employees in China. And it boasts a large amount of customers throughout the country such as Volkswagen, General Motors, Nanjing Iveco, Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Air China, Shanghai Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Haier, Nokia, Motorola, Dell, Whirlpool, etc.

Electro Rent (Tianjin) Rental Co., Ltd., the first solely foreign-owned leasing company in China, recently held an opening ceremony in TEDA.

Recently ACS (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. officially opened its business in TEDA Jinbin Software Mansion. As the first outsourcing company established by ACS, a Fortune Global 500 corporation, in China, it will provide business process and IT outsourcing services to clients in China and Asia. It is fair to say that the landing of ACS in TEDA will serve two purposes at once by contributing to the development of both the modern service and software industries.

Mr. Jeff Rich, CEO of ACS said that one senior executive told him that the new company¡¯s incorporation in Tianjin was more smooth and successful compared with that of over 300 branches worldwide the executive had experienced before. Mr. Jeff Rich added that as Tianjin was a manufacturing center in the Asia-Pacific region, he was confident in the company¡¯s vision in Tianjin and planned to gradually develop it into an Asia-Pacific service base with 2,000 employees.

It is introduced that ACS, Inc. is a leading business process and information technology outsourcing service provider. As a Fortune Global 500 corporation with an annual business income of 5 billion dollars, it has over 50,000 employees in over 100 countries and regions. With its registered capital of one million dollars, the company in Tianjin will have hired over 100 employees by this September.