Caterpillar eyes news opportunities brought by reforms in country: CEO

Source:Xinhua-Global Times Published: 2014-11-13 0:03:02

Caterpillar excavators line up in a quay in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province. Photo: IC



Despite the moderation of its economic growth rate, China still represents a huge market for multinational businesses, in which Caterpillar intends to continue to invest and embrace opportunities in next 40 years, said Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman.  

The shift from double-digit growth to a medium-high growth of about 7.5 percent is inevitable as no economy can grow at a double-digit rate for ever, so this is very normal, Oberhelman said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.  

Even a growth rate of 7.5 percent is a very good one, more than double that in the US, Oberhelman told Xinhua on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Beijing.

China's GDP expanded 7.3 percent from a year ago in the third quarter, compared with 7.5 percent in the second quarter.  

"The Chinese economy is expected to go through a slower but more sustainable growth as well as cycles that we have seen in the US and Europe. This is a very normal trajectory for our business, one that we are used to dealing with," said Oberhelman, also chairman of the company.     

"Today China is the largest equipment market in the world. We have seen tremendous market expansion opportunities," said Oberhelman, whose company, the world's leading maker of construction and mining equipment, completed the first sale of 38 pipe layers to the Chinese market and set up a sales office in Beijing in the mid-1970s.

He said the company has benefited from the increasing market opportunities created by economic reforms over the past decades in China, where it has built a cross-country footprint with about 16,000 employees, nearly 30 manufacturing facilities, four R&D centers, and three logistics and parts centers.  

"We are here not for the next year or 10 years. We are here for the next 40 years," he stressed, noting that "China takes a long view, and companies should take a long view too."  

He said the slower Chinese growth rate would not mean a shrinking of the company's assets based in China but probably a slower rate of expansion.  

China has just pledged to contribute $40 billion to set up a Silk Road Fund to strengthen connectivity and improve cooperation in the region.  

"We are always interested in infrastructure programs," said Oberhelman, noting that typically countries that have invested in infrastructure over the years will become more competitive and the Silk Road initiative is one example which can help connect a tremendous number of countries and people.



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