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Manulife-Sinochem welcomes Global Vision’s Junior Team Canada delegation to China Shanghai – Manulife-Sinochem today hosted a special reception to welcome the Junior Team Canada (JTC) mission to Shanghai – the first stop on the delegation’s 10-day “Global Vision” Asian tour. The reception was held at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Pudong, Shanghai. Global Vision is a Canadian organization dedicated to developing young local talents for the international business community. With support from the Canadian government and national corporations, Global Vision has provided business skills training to more than 6,000 Canadian youths, including international exchanges – such as this one – for aspiring business professional ages 16-24 years. Mr. Raymond Chan, General Manager of Manulife-Sincohem – one of the largest Canadian corporations in China – shared with the visiting group, the company’s philosophy on successful Canadian business development in China. “As the global economy progresses to a new phase of development, China’s role on the international financial services stage is becoming increasingly important following its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO),” said Mr. Chan. “The JTC visit to China, spearheaded by Canadian Minister David Kilgour, Secretary of State (Asia Pacific), demonstrates that the Canadian government and Canadian corporations deem China an attractive market for future foreign investment. We welcome the opportunity to share with our Canadian guests – the business leaders of tomorrow – our success story of doing business in this exciting, dynamic marketplace.” Ongoing government support Supported by the Canadian and Chinese governments, Manulife-Sinochem six years ago became China’s first Sino-Foreign joint venture life insurance company. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the former Chinese Premier Li Peng presided over the official opening ceremony on November 26, 1996. This marked a new chapter of Sino-Canadian business partnership and laid down a crucial foundation for Canadian-based Manulife Financial and Sinochem, China’s biggest comprehensive foreign trading company, to explore China’s enormous life insurance market potential in a joint effort. Today, the Canadian government continues to provide its ongoing support of the Sino-Canadian joint venture. In February 2001, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien participated in a tree-planting ceremony on behalf of Manulife-Sinochem at Shanghai Century Park to mark the Sino-Canadian friendship. In October 2001, the Prime Minister presented commemorative medals to Manulife-Sinochem’s first and 100,000th policyholders at the company’s fifth anniversary ceremony in Shanghai. “We are grateful to the Canadian and Chinese governments for their support in making Manulife-Sinochem the successful operation it is today,” added Mr. Chan at today’s ceremony. “We hope that members of the JTC delegation will encourage more Canadian corporations to consider investing in China in the future. China’s opening of the market to foreign investment offers tremendous opportunity for rapid growth and expansion – not only of the insurance and financial services sector, but industries of all social and economic levels.” Record performance creates solid foundation for the future Since its establishment, Manulife-Sinochem has steadily developed its operations to become one of the leading foreign life insurance companies in Shanghai. In less than six years, the agency force has quickly grown from zero to more than 3,000 professional agents, clients today number more than 130,000, and sales continue to increase substantially year over year, with sales for 2001 up 51 per cent over sales for 2000. “Manulife-Sinochem looks forward to providing its portfolio of premier insurance products and services to consumers in Shanghai, soon in Guangzhou, and in the future, customers in a number of cities across China,” added Mr. Chan. Manulife-Sinochem recently participated in an international seminar in Shanghai on “Globalization and China’s reforms,” jointly hosted by the renowned Fudan University of Shanghai and Queen’s University of Canada. As a guest speaker at the forum, Mr. Chan reviewed Manulife-Sinochem’s experience in China and analyzed the mainland’s fast-growing insurance market. About Global Vision-Junior Team Canada In 1991, Global Vision, a Canadian non-profit organization, launched the Junior Team Canada Program, a youth business leader training program. Recruiting top young talents from small to medium-sized enterprises across the country, the program offers a variety of training and exchange opportunities to equip the members with innovative, modern business capabilities. The program provides young Canadians with skills and knowledge on global economies in an effort to promote Canada’s overseas business development in the international marketplace. The 2002 Junior Team Canada delegation will study the latest developments in China after its entry to the WTO and visit Canadian business operations in China, Hong Kong and the Philippines. In Shanghai and Guangzhou, they will become better acquainted with various industries in China, including agriculture, services industry, culture and education, energy, environment and information technology. About Manulife-Sinochem Manulife-Sinochem is a joint venture company between Manulife (International) Limited (51 per cent) and China Foreign Economic and Trade Trust & Investment Company, a member of the Sinochem group (49 per cent). Manulife-Sinochem can be found on the Internet at www.manulife-sinochem.com. About Sinochem China Foreign Economic and Trade Trust & Investment Company (FOTIC) is a core enterprise of Sinochem. Sinochem, founded in 1950, is the biggest foreign trading company in China. Since 1989, Sinochem had topped the list of the country’s 500 leading foreign trading companies for 13 years in a row. As at the end of 2001, the company’s total revenue was US$16.165 billion. About Manulife Financial Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group operating in 15 countries and territories worldwide. Through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners, Manulife Financial offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services. Manulife Financial has one of the most extensive Asian operations of any life insurer in the world, built over more than 100 years of continuous operation in the region. Funds under management by Manulife Financial were Cdn$139.8 billion as at June 30, 2002. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as ‘MFC’ on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under ‘0945’ on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at www.manulife.com. - 30 - For more information, please contact: Lillian Li Manulife-Sinochem Phone: (86-21) 5049-2288 Ext. 185 E-mail: lillian_li@manulife.com |
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