DPark president, a steadfast promoter of Sino-European relations
Antonio Duarte, founder and president of DPark, the first approved foreign-focused economic and innovation-driven culture park created by the Yangpu district government, was given the honorary citizenship of Shanghai award for 2022 on Dec 8.
Duarte is a successful entrepreneur as well as a steadfast promoter of mutual political, economic and cultural exchanges between China and Europe.
His ancestors embarked on establishing ties between China and Europe centuries ago. Today, 15 years after he built the park, he is committing himself to strengthening Sino-European ties.
As a French entrepreneur with dual French and Portuguese nationalities, Duarte started his career in the automobile and mechanical industry. In 1989, Duarte flew to Shanghai from Paris looking for cooperation and exchanges between China and France in the automobile industry.
He was awarded the Businessman of the Year in 2000 by the magazine Le Novel Economiste. In 2005, Duarte was invited to design Peugeot’s C-Elysee model for the Chinese market, which became the best-selling car at that time.
Duarte then set up Duarte Automotive Engineering Technology Co in Shanghai and simultaneously helped the city’s Yangpu district to hold investment promotion conferences in Europe.
In response to the initiative of the Yangpu district government of Shanghai, Duarte established DPark as a “window for China-Europe exchange and cooperation” in 2009. He personally founded DPark to provide allaround services for foreign enterprises and entrepreneurs, assisting them to settle in Shanghai.
DPark is not only an industrial park, but a platform for exchange and cooperation between China and Europe. Serving as a “window to the world” for Shanghai and Yangpu district, it was also rated as a “small French center” by the then consul general of France in Shanghai.
Duarte said he believed the economy was intrinsically tied to culture. So DPark has publicized European culture, especially French, as well as Chinese culture.
In 2019, DPark joined hands with the French National Monuments Center to hold the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition Triumphal Arch: the Place of Peaceful Memory and the Symbol of Fraternity in celebration of the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France, as well as to strengthen the bond between Chinese and French entrepreneurs.
The exhibition featured rare photos of the grand welcoming ceremony held by French President Emmanuel Macron for a Chinese leader’s visit to France at the Arc de Triomphe in March 2019. The exhibition was also supported by the Charles de Gaulle Foundation.
“We held a lot of activities publicizing Chinese culture in Europe, France and China, hoping to bring moderation and dynamism to purely economic exchanges that sometimes contain conflicts of interest,” Duarte said.
Since its establishment, DPark has received ambassadors and entrepreneurs from Europe, and has assisted in several visits and exchanges between Chinese and French governmental and business delegations, including holding investment promotion conferences in France for the Yangpu district government, facilitating the formation of a twin city relationship between Yangpu district and Lille, France, and arranging the first visit of a French government’s representative for China affairs to meet with representative Chinese companies.
Duarte and his colleagues often organize various foreign-related activities with multinational companies, government agencies and consulates of various countries in Shanghai, and hold networking events for Chinese and European entrepreneurs in the park.
Duarte was appointed European Investment Ambassador by Yangpu district in 2009 and as the International Investment Ambassador by the Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board in 2019.
He advocates respecting cultural differences between China and Europe and acknowledging both sides’ interests. “We must not forget we are engaged in an open and reasonably competitive global environment. My priority is to promote each individual and organization to understand his or her counterpart,” he said.
Duarte also regards social responsibility as an indispensable part of modern enterprises. During the pandemic, Duarte and his team donated pandemic prevention supplies and kept in close contact with the Shanghai Commission of Commerce and the Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board to discuss practical solutions to various difficulties and problems faced by foreign-funded companies to boost their confidence.
Since 2018, Duarte and DPark have participated in the China International Import Expo, organizing French small and medium-sized businesses to exhibit at the expo.