According to the data provided by PRC Ministry of Commerce, Chinese enterprises closed 6,535 non-financial transactions in 167 countries and regions in 2019, with a total investment of $110.6 billion. Moreover, China's stock of ODI had reached USD 1.98 trillion by the end of 2018.
As the Covid-19 pandemic has been still spreading globally, Chinese enterprises’ overseas investments and operations encounters unprecedented difficulties and challenges. To provide timely help and suggestions therefor, with its rich resources overseas, ZHH together with CQ Go-Global Service, LAWorld, an international legal alliance, Sichuan Federation of Industry and Commerce, Sichuan Chamber of Commerce for Cross-border Investment Enterprises, Chongqing Enterprise Association of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, and International Business Committee of Chongqing Bar Association, successfully hosted 12 series of webinars in respect to risk prevention on foreign investments and operations overseas by the Chinese enterprises in the context of COVID-19.
ZHH partner Eagle Yang, the deputy director of ZHH HK office, presided over the whole series. 25 speakers invited from such 12 foreign law firms as the United States, Germany, Thailand, Israel, Italy, Switzerland, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and the UAE delivered 12 informative webinars based on the urgent and actual needs of Chinese enterprises in the fields of labor law, contract performance, financial support policies, bankruptcy and reorganization, investment opportunities in post-pandemic times, which had provided timely and valuable help for Chinese enterprises in their overseas investment and operations.
Ms. Zhang Jianxia, the head of the Department of Foreign Economic Cooperation of Chongqing Commission of Commerce, delivered an open remarks at the first webinar, the US session. Firstly, Ms Zhang expressed wished a great success of the webinars, and appreciated ZHH for actively fulfilling its social responsibility, diligently organizing foreign lawyers to participate in the webinars. "You have demonstrated with your actions the profound meaning of 'One World' and 'an international community with shared future for mankind,'" she said. Meanwhile, Ms Zhang also said that during the pandemic, Chongqing Commission of Commerce (the “CCC”) responded quickly and took many positive measures to fight against the pandemic and prevent risks for Chongqing enterprises with overseas investment and operations. For example, the CCC had played a leading role, through the CQ Go-Global Service platform, by provided the companies with domestic and foreign information and guidance, as well as contacted overseas agencies to solve the problems of supply chain obstruction and implementation.
Under the global challenge of Covid-19, ZHH, as a member of LAWorld, relying on its rich practical experience and extensive overseas cooperation resources accumulated in the process of helping Chinese enterprises "go global" for many years, gives full play to its own overseas offices in Hong Kong and New York linkage advantage, practices social responsibility and commits to protecting Chinese enterprises from legal risks in their cross-border investments and operations. The speakers in the 12 webinars had shared with Chinese enterprises for their existing investments and operations overseas, inter alia, overseas investment and trade cooperation, the countermeasures and risk prevention advice from the perspective of different countries in the face of the pandemic, which has provided valuable reference for the risk prevention and effective response therefor during the pandemic period. In future, ZHH will continue to host similar webinars or seminars free of charge, so as to contribute to the effective prevention and control of legal risks for Chinese enterprises.
