On 26th June, the delegation of SAE including Mr. Tom Ryan, 2008 SAE Presideng, Mr. David L. Schutt, Executive Vice President and Chief Operation Officer, Mr. Murli Lyer, Executive Advisor-Global Affairs, Mr. Gary Schkade, Executive Advisor-Asian Affairs, and Mr. Yu Hongtao, Chief Representative of SAE International in China paid a visit to Ministry of Commerce of P.R.China. Mr. Chen Jian, Vice Minister of Commerce, Mr. Zhang Ji, Deputy Direcyor General of Department of Mechanic, Electronic and Hi-Tech Industry and Deputy Director General of Department of Foreign Affairs and son on met with guests from America.

Mr. Chen Jian said that the Chinese economy has maintained a momentum of rapid growth. Though the Chinese automobile industry started relatively late compared with that in Europe and America, its development has been remarkably quick. Since China has large population and massive land, vehicles are indispensable for consumption and transportation. Against the backdrop of globalization of automobile industry, it is expected that SAE transfers its emphasis to Asia and China for the Chinese market will provide much more development space, which will be greatly supported by the Chinese government. He also said that the key to the development of automobile industry is the technology innovation, and the development of auto parts is the core competition; therefore, Ministry of Commerce is establishing such a platform as CIAPE for the communication and cooperation between the domestic and international automobile industry is of great importance.

Mr. Tom Ryan expressed his appreciation for Vice Minister who provided support for SAE and attached great importance to suggestions given by the Chinese government. He said that the Chinese auto parts industry is competitive in the aspect of labor costs and the way to keep the advantage is to advance the development of technology level, which is the basis of exist of SAE in China and the focus of its work. Moreover, just as Vice Minister said, it was very lucky for SAE to found a very important partner in China, who is very vigorous, tireless and effective. They will support CIAPE, a platform for international communication in an around way. A professional and high-level technology forum will be held by SAE and the Organizing Committee in accordance with CIAPE, and its theme will be focused on the trend of automobile industry and its effect on suppliers. SAE will provide Chinese enterprises with development strategies by communication to make them much more competitive in the automotive area.

Gary Schkade, Executive Advisor-Asian Affairs, and Mr. Yu Hongtao, Chief Representative of SAE International in China have visited Department of Mechanic, Electronic and Hi-Tech Industry together with the Organizing Committee to discuss on relevant issues such as senior technology forum based on the CIAPE platform, meeting of committee of experts and American Chamber of Commerce and relevant activities of automotive research center.