"The chamber's recently published Business Confidence Survey 2020 shows that our members in Shandong are committed to the province, with 92 percent of respondents stating that they are not planning to move their investments to other places," said Jens Eskelund, vice-president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.

Jens Eskelund, vice-president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, delivers an online speech during the Europe Special of the "Connecting Shandong with Fortune Global 500" serial event. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Eskelund made the remarks online during the Europe Special of the "Connecting Shandong with Fortune Global 500" serial event held on Aug 27 in Jinan, provincial capital of Shandong.

Eskelund noted that Shandong is a diverse and dynamic province that many European companies call home.

"The European Chamber's relationship with the government here has been fruitful," he said.

In March 2019, the European Chamber and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade co-hosted the Business Environment Forum for Foreign-invested Companies in Jinan, which was attended by Ren Airong, vice governor of Shandong.

The chamber recently held a webinar with the Shandong Department of Commerce in April 2020 to discuss the implementation of supporting policies related to work resumption and work priorities for 2020.

"Creating direct, open communication channels between the government and business community is essential for building trust, which in turn helps to create a more attractive investment environment," Eskelund said.

"Maintaining these channels on a regular basis allows for the kind of exchanges that can help to develop a transparent, predictable and consistent regulatory environment. It will also help to ensure that new policies that are developed are practical and implementable. This is the kind of business environment that our members require when they are looking to make new major investments, or increase existing ones."

He also expressed hope that the current exchanges between the two sides will lead to a series of high-level dialogues between the Shandong government and the European business community.

"We would like to propose organizing regular meetings between the governor and the European Chamber to ensure such an exchange of views can take place at the highest level."