The Catalan Minister for Business and Labour, Roger Torrent i Ramió, said “Catalonia is the perfect European territory for Chinese companies to find institutional and private allies and to be able to develop any business and industrial project”. He made these statements during his speech at the China Automotive Forum, the main event for the country’s automotive sector. It is attended by more than a thousand people, with nearly 200 high-level speakers and the participation of some 500 companies.

In this respect, Torrent gave as an example the news of the recent arrival of the Chinese multinational Chery in Barcelona and recalled that it will be the first Chinese company in the sector to produce electric cars in Europe. “The Government of Catalonia is very proud to have collaborated to make this news a reality and we trust that it will be an example for many other Chinese companies,”he said.

During his speech, the Minister also stressed that“Catalonia has a strategic position in Spain and Europe, with first-rate international land, air and sea connections, a strong industrial fabric and a prestigious innovation ecosystem”.

The Catalan delegation’s participation in the convention is part of a visit to China to position Catalonia as a productive investment destination. Torrent and the Catalan Government team also visited the R&D centre of the multinational Chery in Shanghai and Zhangjiang High Tech technology park, specialising in semiconductors, as well as meeting with other Chinese companies in the sector and other technology industries.

In the course of this term of office, Torrent has travelled to China on several occasions, held several meetings with representatives of Chery, and announced the attraction of investment projects such as those of the Chinese multinational Wanhua, one of the largest in the world in the chemical industry, which is set to open an innovation centre in Catalonia. Thus, at the end of 2023 it was also announced that the Chinese textilecompany Shanghai Jingqingrong Garment will open its first production plant abroad in Catalonia, after holding a meeting with a Catalan Government delegation.

China, a strategic market

There are currently more than 200 subsidiaries of Chinese companies established in Catalonia, with an exponential growth in recent years that has led China to become the third most important non-European country in terms of the number of subsidiaries in Catalonia, only preceded by the United States and Japan.

With 27 million vehicles produced in 2022, China is the world’s leading manufacturing country, far ahead of the United States (10 million), Japan (7.8 million) or India (5.5 million). It is a strategic country for the Catalan Government, one of the largest investors globally but one of the least established manufacturing countries in Europe.