- Over the last several years, China has become the world's
seventh largest economy, with imports and exports growing more than
20% over the last two years. With Georgia's business strengths, already
established presence overseas, and geographically advantageous location,
Georgia is ideal to build these partnerships and benefit from these
opportunities.
- China is Georgia's fifth-largest trading partner, with
nearly $650 million in goods exported there annually.
- Roughly two-thirds of all inbound containers at the Port
of Savannah are from China, and Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. is
seeking regulatory approval to operate a daily nonstop flight from Atlanta
to Beijing (which could carry a $400 million economic impact on the
Southeast).
- Several Atlanta-based Fortune 500 companies do significant
business in China, including The Coca-Cola Co., UPS, General Electric’s
large GE division and Scientific-Atlanta Inc.
- The Home Depot imports about 10% of its goods from overseas;
China is one of its larger sources.
- The Home Depot recently opened two “sourcing offices in
the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Shenzhen, which
manufacture flooring, lighting, fans and other consumer goods for the
retail giant.
- China’s economy is one of the hottest and fastest-growing
in the world right now, with a gross domestic product (GDP) increase
of 9.3 percent in 2003 and another 8 percent GDP increase expected in
2004.
- China does $192 billion in annual trade with the U.S.,
triple the amount of trade the countries did in the mid-0s.
- Beijing will host the 2008 Olympic Games, which are expected
to create several hundred million dollars in infrastructural improvements
and new facility construction.
- Minsheng Bank, China’s very first completely privately
owned bank, was founded in 1996, and it is now aggressively courting
foreign investors and customers.
|
