Pop quiz: What is the world’s largest city by land area, population and growth?

By Michael Darch

The answer to all three is Chongqing, China.

Be truthful. How many of you got that one right? With a land area of over 70,000 square kilometres and a population of 32 million, it doesn’t even have a close competitor. Chongqing’s population rivals Canada’s. China has committed the resources to make Chongqing the country’s fourth city for development and its gateway to Western China.

This designation has got the cranes out, and they are out in force. One member of our team remarked that obviously there’s an elevator shortage and the cranes are filling in until the elevators arrive. It is hard to conceive how demand can possibly match the pace of construction.

From left: Keith Parsonage of Industry Canada meeting with Vice Mayor Zhou Mubing prior to the Canada-China S&T Innovation Forum

Chongqing has long been one of China’s major manufacturing centres, leading the country in building bicycles and motorcycles. It’s third in passenger cars. It has a large chemicals industry and has one of China’s largest reserves of natural gas. It is building itself into a major logistics centre and seeing strong growth in information and communications technology, and cleantech. China has also designated the city as its centre for urban/rural issues.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Canadian Consulate in Chongqing. This week is the celebration and there are seven delegations in town representing over 110 people. The largest presence ever of Canadians in the city.

The theme for the week is Canada-China science and technology cooperation. Although historically a city of heavy industry, the government is committed to technology to sustain its economy and fuel its growth. Today’s Canada-China S&T and Innovation Forum has drawn speakers from across Canada, including Industry Canada, Wilfred Laurier University, International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada, the Quebec government, RIM, the University of Alberta, Chongqing University, Foreign Affairs Canada and yours truly.

The session is very well attended and the speakers are enthusiastic. The forum is opened by Vice Mayor Zhou Mubing, indicating both the importance of S&T to Chongqing and the commitment to Canada-China cooperation. The topic is obviously timely and by shear weight of numbers, cooperation cannot help but grow. You get the feeling of almost boundless opportunity. The feature event tomorrow: Ottawa’s Clean Energy Seminar.

(Mike Darch is Executive Director of OCRI Global Marketing)