On 17 April we had a key meeting in the European Chamber (EUCCC) where I was (again) confirmed as chair of the Public Procurement Working Group, a position that I held since I set up the WG in 2005.
The WG is a horizontal one that looks at all public bidding in China, covered by the China Bidding and Tendering Law and the Government Procurement Law, as well as market access generally speaking. According to our estimates it represents a market of around 1 trillion euro per year. Projects covered are power plants, power transmission and distribution, rail and urban transport, water works, etc. Most EU companies have little interest for Government Procurement (I call it “buying stationeries and copy machines for the ministries and the paint for their walls…).

Gilbert with Ms. Yang Dan

We had also a very interesting presentation by Ms. Yang Dan, Deputy Country Director in Beijing for the ADB. She has been deeply involved in public procurement since many years and is probably the most informed specialist I have met in China… She gave us some new insight in possible developments in PPP in China, one of the areas I was deeply involved in during the 2008 Olympics (Public Private Partnerships).