chemchina announced that it would donate to nouvel institut franco chinois in an agreement signed with nouvel institut franco chinois in beijing on the morning of june 23. gérard collomb, senator and mayor of lyon and president of greater lyon, and chemchina chairman ren jianxin signed the letter of intent as the representatives from the two sides.
according to the agreement, chemchina will donate €50,000 to nouvel institut franco chinois in a five-year program through its subsidiaries adisseo and bluestar silicones. the school, formerly known as l'institut franco-chinois de lyon (lyon sino-french institute), was renamed following chinese president xi jinping’s visit on march 26, 2014. it has turned into the lyon-china relations promotion center, which aims to improve relations between lyon and china. and on the second floor of its museum a business center will be established for increased interdisciplinary exchanges and it will be open to major businesses in lyon and china. mr. gérard collomb, on behalf of the government of lyon, extended thanks to ren and chemchina, and believed that the school will play a bigger role in establishing a platform for cultural and economic exchanges between china and france.
chemchina started its going global strategy in lyon, and its first international acquisitions - adisseo in 2006 and rhodia silicones in 2007 - were both in lyon. today chemchina is the largest chinese investor in france, with about 2000 employees, of which 230 are r&d staff in the vent d'ouest and roches-roussillon chemical park in greater lyon, and the revenue has exceeded €2 billion. since 2006, chemchina and bluestar have invested heavily in france, especially in lyon, and adisseo and bluestar silicones have made exciting progress in business expansion. ren believed that the achievements chemcchina made in lyon, namely sales revenue increasing threefold and profits tenfold, is not possible without the long-term support of the lyon government and the mayor, which creates a good environment for the growth of the enterprises.
