Germany-headquartered industrial hardware giant Wurth Group unveiled its first China experience center in Shenyang, Liaoning province, in April, providing inspiration for the manufacturing industry's marketing innovation, local officials said.

Wurth Group, founded in 1945, is a world market leader in the assembly and fastening material sector. It entered the Chinese market in 1994 and has 1,200 employees in more than 100 Chinese cities. Its Shenyang store is in the city's China-Germany Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park.

"The favorable location and preferential policies of Liaoning, one of China's northeastern rust belt provinces, offered many development opportunities for investors," Xinhua quoted Larry Stevens, CEO of Wurth China, as saying.

Li Baojun, deputy director of the management committee of the industrial park, said at the opening ceremony: "We hope Wurth can introduce more advanced products and technology into this park, have further cooperation with local companies and offer new ideas for industrial development."

Li said: "I expect Wurth to work as a bridge or a bond linking Shenyang with the world."

Founded in 2015, the 48-square-kilometer China-Germany Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park features a variety of sectors, including intelligent manufacturing, advanced machinery, automobiles, industrial services and strategic emerging industries.

The city's top policymakers decided at the end of 2016 to create a more business-friendly environment in a bid to revitalize the traditional industrial hub.

The city's goal is to join the ranks of the top 50 economies worldwide in the World Bank Group Global Doing Business ranking in about three years.

The improvement in the business environment will inject a new vigor into the local economy and help to sharpen its competitive edge, local officials said, adding that the city will also promote innovation, reforms and industrial transformation.

Wang Menghui, the Shenyang chief of the Communist Party of China, said at a work meeting at the end of 2016 that the move is in response to the central government's call for improving investment and the business climate.

"It is set to become an effective path to adding to the city's appeal, enhancing social cohesion and increasing its competitiveness," Wang said.

(China Daily European Weekly 05/26/2017 page20)