Foreign reporters for FOCAC Beijing Summit visit off-road vehicle base
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E-mail China.org.cn, August 31, 2018
On Aug. 29, journalists from the U.S., the U.K, France, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and various other countries visited a base of Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC) that produces off-road vehicles (ORV). It was the first stop for the journalists visiting Beijing to report on next week's Beijing Summit of the 2018 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
"The ORVs here look awesome, and I will introduce them to readers of my newspaper," said Shelton, a journalist from Sri Lankan, adding that he expects to see more Chinese cars in his country.
The BAIC has a storied history of making ORVs, from its first model BJ 212 produced in 1965 to establishing Beijing Jeep Corporation in 1984. The manufacturing base receiving the foreign guests has a total area of around 540,000 square meters, and the first ORV produced at this base roll off the assembly line in April 2014. The facility began production officially in July that year.
According to a BAIC staff member, the company set up a branch with a manufacturing plant in South Africa in 2016, its first vehicle manufacturing plant overseas and also the largest foreign investment project in South Africa in over 40 years.
The journalists will make 10 more stops from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2 to learn about Beijing's technological and cultural innovations, high-end manufacturing, its partnership with African countries, China's high-speed railway construction, and more.
