The opening ceremony of the Nantong factory of Starlim Spritzguss GmbH is held on Oct 11. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Nantong in Jiangsu province inked a letter of intent on friendly cooperation with Wels, a city in the central region of Upper Austria, on Oct 11 to further deepen their economic and cultural collaboration.

Wels is the seventh largest city in Austria and, together with Linz, constitutes the second largest economic area in Austria. The city has about 70,000 residents and 5,700 companies, including many internationally renowned companies.

Implementing the Yangtze River Delta integration and other national strategies makes Nantong unique in location, transportation, resource, and cost advantages.

The city's trade partners are spread across 206 countries and regions. It also hosts over 3,800 foreign-invested enterprises and 112 projects invested by 60 Fortune Global 500 companies.

Thomas Brundl, global president of Starlim Spritzguss GmbH, speaks at the ceremony. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Austria is one of Nantong's most important trade and economic cooperation partners. The China-Austria Su Tong Eco-Park in Nantong, a role model of China-Austria cooperation, has attracted numerous high-end manufacturing enterprises from German-speaking regions since its establishment in 2015.

The Nantong factory, the first production base of Austria-based Starlim Spritzguss GmbH in Asia, was put into operation on the same day. The factory is expected to produce over 500 million high-performance elastomer parts annually.

Over the years, the Austrian business community has been very optimistic about the investment environment in Nantong, and several Austrian companies, including Stiwa, Starlim, and Lecapell, have established a presence in the city.