Two global industrial conglomerates remain bullish about the Chinese market, after seeing a robust growth in 2005.

"The reason I came to China is the great opportunities here," said Steve Bertamini, chairman and chief executive officer of GE China.

GE's competitor, German giant Siemens, announced results for China for the 2005 fiscal year ended September with sales growing by 15 percent year-on-year to 44.3 billion yuan (US$5.48 billion).

GE's Bertamini was speaking yesterday in his first meeting with the Chinese media since being appointed to the position in October.

He revealed sales of GE China were close to US$5 billion this year, compared with last year's US$3.9 billion and US$1.2 billion in 2001.

The US giant witnessed strong growth in all three major business groups infrastructure, industrial products and applications, and healthcare due to the steady growth of the Chinese economy and the country's rising demand for more planes, trains, power plants, medical equipment and lighting devices.

Meanwhile, Richard Hausmann, president and chief executive officer of Siemens China, told China Daily the business will realize its previous goal to double 2003 sales of 30 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) "pretty soon". He expected it in three to six years but it could happen sooner.

Siemens has already invested 1 billion euros (US$1.17 billion) in China.

GE's Bertamini estimated GE China's sales will maintain an annual growth of more than 20 percent in the coming few years.

"My challenge is mainly on the people side, as we need to continue to attract people," he added.

In the past three years, GE China has doubled the number of its employees to more than 12,000 in the world's fastest growing major economy, but he declined to say how many employees GE will add next year.

In 2005, Siemens China recruited another 5,000 people bringing the total to 36,000. Hausmann said it would recruit another 3,000 people next year. It will also open more regional offices, reaching 60 from this year's 53 in order to tap into more regional markets.

This means Siemens will cover every part of China except for Tibet and Qinghai.

As many as 1,200 aircraft in China use GE engines and 300 GE turbines are installed in Chinese power plants.

GE China will expand into new energy areas such as nuclear, wind and solar energy in line with China's efforts to use more non-fossil energy.

On Tuesday, GE China's energy business said it had won a bid to provide wind turbines for a project in Shenyang in Northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Upon completion, the scheme will be able to meet the power needs of 150,000 households.

In some new areas like water treatment, security equipment and consumer finance, GE expects to see fast growth.

Bertamini, also president of GE consumer finance in Asia, said the company is thinking about how it can help the Shenzhen Development Bank in which GE invested US$100 million this year in its retail business.

GE China will also expand its mergers and acquisitions team, trying to find more opportunities in China in areas such as energy, water treatment, healthcare, and transportation.

(China Daily December 9, 2005)