KUNMING HEAD OFFICE

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Yunnan Province

Yunnan is the sixth largest province in China. Its position and its history make easily understandable that this province has always held a unique social and cultural identity, separated from Beijing not only by geographical distance. Another reason explaining this diversity could be looked upon the fact that Yunnan has the highest number of ethnic groups among all provinces and autonomous regions in China. Among the country's 56 ethnic groups, 26 are found in Yunnan. A mountainous landscape and long distances between villages and urban centers always influenced movements in Yunnan; for this reason, agriculture has been one of the main assets for so many years, and it developed on terraced land slices stolen from the mountains, rather than on large flat fields. Until 10 years ago,Yunnan was still one of China's undeveloped provinces with more poverty-stricken counties than other provinces. In 1994, about 7 million people lived below the poverty line of less than an annual average income of 300 yuan per capita (around 35 US dollars). With an input of 3.15 billion yuan in 2002, the absolutely poor rural population in the province has been reduced from 4.05 million in 2000 to 2.86 million in 2002.The poverty alleviation plan includes five large projects aimed at improving infrastructure facilities. They involve soil improvement and water conservation, electric power, roads and "green belt" building. Upon the completion of the projects, the province will solve the problems of shortages of grain, water, electric power and roads and improve ecological conditions.

In 2005 the GDP of the Region rose to 347,2 billion RMB: primary industry 65,62 billion RMB (+6.3%); secondary industry 144,97 billion RMB (+8.5%); tertiary industry 136,65 billion RMB (+10.8%).
Yunnan has trade contacts with more than 70 countries and regions in the world. It mainly exports are: tobacco, machinery and electrical equipment, chemical and agricultural products and non-ferrous metals. In 2005 its total imports and exports reached US$ 4,75 billion, about 57% points higher. So far, Yunnan has established trade and economic cooperation and friendly exchange with more than 110 countries ands areas in the world. In the past five years, a total of 756 foreign-invested enterprises have been established. Yunnan's provincial government is planning great improvements of its infrastructure to promote tourism and to overhaul all economic opportunities created after the Greater Mekong Sub-region diversified into several modern economic sectors and developed into a more transparent, market-based system. The tourism industry is one of the pillar industries of Yunnan. During the period of 2001-2005, overseas tourist to Yunnan has been increased from 1 million to 1,5 million and foreign exchanges earning from tourism has been increased from US$ 340 million to 530 million with anual growth rates of 8.5% and 9.3% respectively. The total income from the tourism industry in Yunnan has been increased from RMB 21 billion to 43 billion with an annual growth rate of 15.3%. Overall, this region is well endowed with resources. Along with its strong agricultural base, it contains vast amounts of timber, fisheries resources, a wide variety of minerals, petroleum, natural gas, coal, and some of Asia's best potential for hydropower projects. The human resource base is also considered a potential asset because of its large size and low costs.
Yunnan Provincial Government is improving its infrastructure to capitalize on the opportunities created by Greater Mekong Sub-region development and the planned establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area. The legal and administrative accessibility of the Yunnan infrastructure sector is generally good, especially given the amount of information, facts and figures available. Currently existing obstacles, providing that one has knowledge of them (e.g.cultural differences, language barriers and a possible lack of sufficiently qualified labour) are manageable when given proper attention and time. Economists foresee that Yunnan will become the meeting point between the two trade axis Hong Kong-New Delhi and Rangoon-Moscow. The area that stretches from Kunming to northern Thailand, eastern Burma and Laos, known as the golden quadrangle, is a place where a growing number of Chinese businessmen are moving in search for new markets. Nowadays, Yunnan has the credentials to become a golden opportunity for foreign direct investments.

	Office manager Francesca De Andrea has a degree in International Communication and Foreign Language and Culture at Milan University. She's been living in China for several years, she knows Cantonese and she speaks fluently Mandarin and various European languages, such as English, French, German and Spanish. She developed through different experiences the ability of interaction and negotiation with Chinese parties, expertised in new companies' set-up, especially FICE companies thanks to a period in a foreign investment consulting company in Shanghai. She developed a strong relationship net with the Italian and international community above all in Shanghai.
	Vice office manager and tourism consultant Edmondo Di Natale has a degree in Oriental Languages and Culture (Chinese) at the Oriental University in Naples. He speaks fluently English and Mandarin, language that he improved through different intensive language courses in Yunnan Universities and thanks to many experiences as interpreter and commercial mediator. He's in charge of keeping contacts with many Italian institutions, especially the ones from Sicily Region. He has been living for many years in Kunming where he also takes care of the development of different cultural activities in cooperation with local realities, above all in the tourism sector in Yunnan and Sichuan, and all around China.
	Senior consultant Li Zheheng (Jack) has a degree in business English at Yunnan Normal University. He speaks very well English and he works as a translator; through the long experience in Chinamultiservice he became expert of potential Chinese partner and supplier research, above all in fields such as mechanical, engineering and environmental protection. He's following different investment projects in Yunnan province.
	Consultant He Jie (Michelle) potential Chinese partner and supplier research, keeping good relationships with Chinese partners and suppliers, documentation translation, following different investment projects. She takes care to keep relationship with local governement offices..
	Accounting consultant Sun Jing(Jing) graduated from Yunnan university of finance and economics, has a bachelor degree in management and international business. Take care of company's accounting work and dealings with bank, good English skill, also doing some translation work, and the research of the market for client.
	Office secretary Li Juan (Libby) graduated in Business English at Sichuan International Studies University - self-taught international course. Got a lot of experiences during three years being a full time English teacher. With an excellent ability of English in listening, speaking, writing and translation. Takes care of daily activities in the office, hotel and trip reservations, press release, and translation and met and greeted clients.
	Senior accountant Yao Chengkun (Mr. Yao) has a certificate of accounting professional of PRC. He worked for big enterprises in Yunnan for more than 15 years, and he is very familiar with laws and regulations in financial field. He takes care of the company's accounting, taxes and annual inspection by 6 bureaus.