“Belt and Road”- Made in Germany and Italy

Text by Zhao Lei Translation by Tao Wenjia Photos by CFP

“Belt and Road”- Made in Germany and Italy

Text by Zhao Lei Translation by Tao Wenjia Photos by CFP

Some believe that there are two countries in Europe which treat manufacturing as their most fundamental industry. One is Germany and the other is ltaly.

“Made in Germany” is Germany's gold brand which represents quality and brilliance. Among all 32 different categories of prod-ucts in the mechanical and equipment industries, 16 ones which are ranked the top in the world in terms of export amount are from Germany. Automobile, machinery manufacturing, chemical medicine, as well as electronics are the four traditional pillar industries in Germany. The secret of their success is that they at-tach great importance to research and development to constantly improve their core competitiveness. Compared to them, Chinese corporations are good at gradual evolution, but lack break-throughs in innovation. What we can learn from brands that are “Made in Germany” is: if we really want to sell products through the Silk Road, we must provide high-quality products with a reliable brand. Thus, Chinese corporations on the“Road and Belt” need to have brand awareness, corporate culture and social re-sponsibility.

For instance, the Yangjiang city in Guangdong is famous for its production of scissors and knives,however, few outside of Guangdong know this. So it may be a good idea for Yangjiang to reach out and work with German corporations to produce the Chinese version of “Zwilling”.

ltaly is famous for “the kingdom of small and medium busi-nesses”. Any “Belt and Road” cities with a plan to develop their small and medium businesses should take initiative to learn from the ltalians. Food, garment and furniture are the three traditional industries that the ltalians are proud of. Small and medium busi-nesses in ltaly play an important role in boosting national econ-omy and sustaining job market. Nearly 82% of the country's job opportunities are related to small and medium businesses However, they are currently facing economic hardship, so they are more than willing to explore the Chinese market, and the Chi-nese market in turn needs to be ready to reach out. lt is ex-pected that more Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises will go to ltaly to learn skills and valuable experiences. And it is hard to imagine that the ltalians would turn down such promising “students”. To a certain extent, small and medium-sized enter-prises are the barometer of the economic health of a country and a barometer of the vibrancy of the economy of Silk Road.

Zhao Lei

professor at the Institu te for International Stra tegic Studies of the Pa rty School of the Centr al Committee of the CP C, a director of the Res earch Office for Interna tional Relations and Na tional Unity. Mr. Zhao heads a key research project on the Belt and Road Initiative at CPS, and is the founder of th e forum “The Belt and R oad 100”.

赵磊

中共中央党校国际战略研究院教授、国际关系与国家统一研究室主任、中央党校“一带一路”重点研究课题主持人，“一带一路百人论坛”发起人。

“一带一路”与德意制造

有人认为，欧洲有两个国家是以制造业为基础的，一个是德国，另一个是意大利。

“德国制造”是德国的金字招牌，代表着品质与卓越。在机械设备业32个产品领域中，德国产品在16个领域为世界出口第一。汽车、机械制造、化工医药和电子电气是德传统四大支柱产业。德国企业成功的秘诀，是高度重视研发，不断提高核心竞争力。而中国企业的短板是渐进性创新不少，但突破性创新不够。“德国制造”对中国的启示是：丝绸之路要有产品可卖，就要做真正有品质、有品牌的产品。因此，致力于“一带一路”的中国企业要有品牌意识，要做有文化、有社会责任的中国企业。以城市为例，广东阳江是中国“刀剪之乡”，但在广东之外，很少有人知道它。因此，阳江可主动同德国展开刀剪产业合作，打造“中国版的双立人”。

意大利有“中小企业王国”的殊荣，致力于发展中小企业的中国丝路城市应该主动对接意大利。食品、服装、家具是意大利的传统优势产业，俗称“3F产业”。意大利中小企业在国民经济和解决就业方面都发挥着重要作用，这类企业吸纳了全国近82%的员工，但目前它们的发展面临难题。为此，意大利需要开拓中国市场，后者也要积极对接前者。预计会有更多的中国中小企业家前去意大利拜师取经，意大利也不会放弃这个有前途的“学生”。从某种程度来说，中小企业是一国经济健康状况的晴雨表，也是丝路经济活跃的晴雨表。