Mateus Napoli, a senior manager at Brazilian company Nexus Co Ltd, encourages the gathered Wuxi business leaders to invest in his company’s Chinatown project. [Photo by Zhou Wenbo/chinadaily.com.cn]

"I am honored to introduce the Chinatown project here because it is a gathering of Wuxi-born businesspeople from all over the world and we cannot afford to miss such an opportunity," said Napoli.

Huang Fei, director of the Shanghai office of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, also gave a slide show about business opportunities in the ASEAN market. He highlighted Singapore's unique position as a hub city for the whole region and its unrivaled business environment.

The last speaker was Dan Lane, global business manager of the office of economic development and trade for the US state of Colorado.

He underlined Colorado's unique advantage among America's 50 states: Its combination of a high level of innovation, low cost of doing business and high quality of life.

"I was very impressed by the hi-tech content of Wuxi's economy and found many similarities between Wuxi and Colorado in products and industries," said Lane.

The event also featured a series of speeches by officials from Wuxi municipal government highlighting their plans to boost economic development in the city.

Chen Derong, a member of the government's standing committee, stressed the government's determination to support the city's emerging advanced manufacturing and services industries.