Gai Dongping (1st right), vice-mayor of municipal government of Jilin, Austria's Ambassador to China Friedrich Stift (2nd right), and Martin Glatz, head of Advantage Austria Beijing and commercial counselor at the Austrian embassy in Beijing (2nd left), attend the Austrian Winter Sports Days 2018 Conference held in Jilin city, Jilin province, Feb 2, 2018. （Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn）
Austrian and Chinese officials, winter sports entrepreneurs and experts gathered at a conference at a ski resort in Jilin city, Northeast China's Jilin province, on Friday to discuss the development of China's winter sports.
The Austrian Winter Sports Days 2018 Conference, jointly hosted by Vanke Lake Songhua Resort and the Austrian embassy, is committed to promoting the development and exchange of winter sports between Jilin province and Austria and providing opportunities and platforms for the integration of the two places' winter sports industries.
Gai Dongping, vice-mayor of municipal government of Jilin, said in her speech at the conference that committed to the idea "the world of ice and snow can provide an opportunity for people to make money", Jilin city has vigorously implemented the winter sports industry upgrade project and looks forward to carry out exchanges and cooperation with Austria, a winter sports powerhouse, in developing winter sports products and technologies, tourism market and talent training.
Austria's Ambassador to China Friedrich Stift said when he saw the facilities and services of the well-established resort and many children wearing the unified ski suits taking ski lifts, he felt Jilin, a province once famous as China's old industrial base, is embracing a booming winter sports industry.
Martin Glatz, head of Advantage Austria Beijing and commercial counselor at the Austrian embassy in Beijing, said the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics have ignited an unparalleled enthusiasm for ice and snow sports in China and Austria would like to support this trend.
"For the first time, we are offering a conference in addition to the traditional Advantage Austria Ski Race," he said.
Glatz said the Advantage Austria Ski Race had been held for eight times in China and it was the ninth this time. In addition, it was the first time the race was held in China's northeastern region.
