North Carolina and Chinese officials signed an agreement Tuesday to create a bio sciences gateway in Research Triangle Park for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other businesses that want to expand in either country.
The partnership is tied to Chinese President Hu Jintao's three-day visit to the United States and signals China's interest in increasing economic ties with North Carolina.
"Our purpose today is fairly simple: We want to learn how North Carolina can collaborate and build strong partnerships with you," Gov. Bev Perdue told a delegation of more than 100 Chinese politicians, investors and business leaders in Durham. "We need to know: What can our state do better?"
Perdue noted that she's planning a return visit toChina in the fall and hopes to call on businesses interested in adding jobs in this state.
The agreement signed Tuesday morning calls for a 150,000-square-foot research facility that's expected to open in 2013 on the RTP campus of the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences. The nonprofit Hamner will work with Chinese investment firm XY Group to identify opportunities for companies, universities and others.
Though details about the deal's potential to create new jobs were vague, Chinese officials who toasted the agreement over champagne with Perdue, N.C. Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, U.S. Rep. David Price and others emphasized that it will lead to more economic development in this region.
"This campus will be a very important gateway for Chinese companies that want to do business in North Carolina," XY Group CEO Yunsong Yang said.
Since most business in China is done only with the blessing of the government, having the deal implemented during the U.S. visit by China's president elevates North Carolina's stature in that country, Hamner CEO William Greenlee said.
The latest partnership expands an agreement Hamner officials signed in May 2009 with China Medical City to establish drug-development ties between North Carolina and China, Greenlee said.
The deals are part of a larger expansion planned at Hamner, founded in 1974 to study the safety of chemicals. The center's master plan calls for adding up to 1 million square feet of space in six additional buildings on its 56-acre RTP headquarters campus over the next five to seven years, he said.
The initial research facility could mean about 400 more jobs at the campus in 2013, Greenlee said.
The news signals that China is open for North Carolina companies eager to expand in the fast-growing country. China is this state's No. 2 trading partner after Canada, and exports continue to surge.
"We now have a governor who understands why it's so important to have a strong trade relationship with China," said L. Duane Long, chairman of Longistics, an RTP company that handles logistics, warehousing and transportation needs for a wide range of clients.
Longistics will open an exhibition center in Suzhou, about 60 miles west of Shanghai, in March. The center is designed to accelerate the export of products from North Carolina and other U.S.-based companies to China. Plans call for Longistics to add 500 companies within five years.
"Ten years ago, China was about 10 percent of my work," Long said. "Today it's 90 percent."
