Van: I just follow these questions. Now we have less than two years before the Olympic Games. So the ongoing work for preparation of 2008 is going on at full speed today. In my opinion, we can look at three different phases of preparations. First the preparation is the construction of projects. So all these big construction projects by today they have started already. Some of them are even completed, like Fengtai Softball Stadium. So as for the large construction projects, I think most of the people would not loosing firmness. They do not have big worries. We all think for the major infrastructure projects, the sports venues, other facilities will be completed on time.

So the second phase. The second segmentation is the deliveries of equipment and services to be installed inside those sports venues, like equipment for subways. It can be many different things because Beijing is going through a very important modernization. This modernization is not under the level of sports venues. It is about urban transport, environment, emergency services, healthcare, education. So far for the second wave of projects, we are looking at equipment, it can be electronics, even construction materials. It can be also services provided. This second wave of projects now has been basically started, most of the contract are under discussion. We can say that today we have crossed most probably half of this time-up. Of course, those projects are apparently going on time. But some people do have some concerns for this type of deliveries of equipment and services. Some people worry about the quality of equipment and services because many of the budget have been cut, the sports venues, other facilities. This could effect the long term duration of those facilities. So there would be no problem for Olympic Games. But the question is: how would those installation speak in the next 20-30 years.

The question is the choice of equipment has been too much guided by price concern, and even some foreign companies complain that favor has been given to local Chinese companies. And foreign companies sometimes feel that they have not given market access to this type of  equipment market. Actually, myself have many jobs in Beijing. I am a senior advisor of Beijing Olympic economy. I am also the chairman of a working group in European Chamber of Commerce. This working group is looking at what we call public procurement. The meaning of public procurement is that procurement by Chinese entities, government entities who are doing projects need to buy equipment and services. European Chamber is very much interested in this huge market of modernization of Beijing and all the opportunities for the Olympics. We, European Chamber sometimes receive complaints by European companies that there are some restrictions for foreign companies. The second wave of projects offers tremendous opportunities to local Chinese companies to increase their expertise and level of quality. But still there is a lot to be improved in Beijing. European companies are very interested in working together with local Chinese companies in sharing opportunities and transferring their know-how.

Now for the third wave of projects. There will be for the service we make it to the real operation of the Olympic Games on the venues during the Games. We could call it over-all logistics of the Games. This is a very specialized field. Some of the observers have little worried that China has moved into consideration that all difficulties are normal in organizing Olympic Games. Organizing Olympic Games is just like you are going to run a marathon. It is very hard to run a marathon. You think you have prepared well but you fail when you do it. So preparation for Olympic Games is the same. Every body believes in themselves that they will succeed. But all the host cities have to face unexpected problems. Because the Games are very complicated. If you just look at the number of visitors that we expect. 40-50 thousand foreign visitors and over 2 million Chinese visitors. We should learn experiences from those host cities like Sydney, Athens, Barcelona, Munich.

Some of the issues foreigners worry about is that how foreign media would operate during the Games, and how would this city look like? Many people from previous host cities are saying, “Be extremely care with foreign journalists since the success of failure of the Games very often depend on journalists. Treat them well, make them happy. ”

There might be a big problem. Many foreign visitors will come to Beijing not only to watch the Games but to look for business also. They want to know how to do business in Beijing. But there is no such a business club to receive them. I wrote a very large report on this issue to Beijing Government. Since there is no practical entity to receive business people, Beijing might lose a lot of opportunities. We should make foreign visitors say, “ Oh, I stay in Beijing too short, I want to come back again！”