Chinese government's focus on sustainable development will bring about new and long-term business opportunities for foreign companies in China, Alstom Chairman and CEO Patrick Kron said Thursday.

Kron is in his eighth trip to Beijing in recent years and vows to "catch up with the demands" of electricity and transport in China market.

Kron's Beijing visit coincided with the annual convention of the Chinese legislature, which is expected to discuss government'sefforts to cool down an economy galloping ahead at an annual rate of 9.5 percent.

Last year, the Chinese government took such measures as tightening land and money supply to curb excessive expansion real estate, steel making and manufacturing sectors, which strained supply of energy and transport.

But Kron said the Chinese government's macro-economic control measures would not affect the operations of Alstom, a leading global supplier of power generation and rail transport equipment and technology. He said the Chinese government maintained its strong commitment on the development of energy and transport infrastructures.

Kron predicts that in this year and the coming years, China's demand for electricity and transport will remain huge as the economy keeps on a fast track.

Alstom has already set up two solely owned companies and seven joint venture companies in China. It has supplied equipment and transferred relevant technology to a number of large-scale infrastructure projects in the country, including a power plant atthe Three Gorges Dam in central China, the subway network of Shanghai city and a nuclear power plant at Daya Bay in south China.

On the other hand, the Chinese government's growing concern on environment protection will help open new opportunities for Alstom,Kron said.

Alstom has transferred advanced clean coal technology to a number of Chinese power plants. So far, around 40 percent of the burners at coal firing power plants in China have adopted the technology of Alstom.

Kron said he is glad to see that environmentally friendly technology of power generation is growing into a new growth of thecompany's business in China. He said as China puts increasing importance on resources efficiency in all aspects of social and economic development, Alstom is fully optimistic about its future business opportunities in the country.

During his visit in Beijing, Kron met with Chinese business partners and government officials in a bid to seek new expansion opportunities. He also made a speech at Beijing Jiaotong University on Thursday afternoon. More than 400 students listened to his speech under the title of "Reliable partner of Chinese railtransport."

Source: Xinhua