The Hangzhou government held a meeting to discuss how best to fight the novel coronavirus epidemic and promote development on March 2. The meeting was attended by a number of business leaders.

Zong Qinghou, chairman of Wahaha Group, Zhang Yong, CEO of Alibaba Group, Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Group, and Qiu Jianlin, chairman of Zhejiang Hengyi Group, shared their insights on how best to develop business amid the current outbreak.

During the meeting, Zong delivered a lecture in which he called on entrepreneurs in Hangzhou to remain optimistic about winning the fight against the epidemic and maintaining growth.

He encouraged other Hangzhou companies to resume operation as soon as possible and make up for losses.

Zong also called on big companies to take the lead in resuming production and turn the crisis into an opportunity.

“The more difficult the situation is, the more cooperation we need,” Zong said, calling on Hangzhou companies to help small and micro-sized companies address problems related to logistics, supply chains, orders and finances.

Alibaba CEO Zhang Yong suggested that Hangzhou seize the opportunity to further develop is digital economy.

In his speech, he predicted that a new round of investment in digital economy infrastructure will be initiated once the epidemic ends.

“Hangzhou should spearhead global development in cloud computing, big data and digitalization,” he said, “a historic opportunity has been presented to Hangzhou.”

Zhang also gave advice on how to alleviate financial burdens for small and micro-sized companies.

He pledged that Alibaba Group would contribute its fair share to the fight against the epidemic and promoting economic growth in Hangzhou.

Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Group, made it known that Geely produced 2.18 million vehicles last year, ranking 13th among global vehicle manufacturers and 1st among Chinese vehicle manufacturers.

He said that the company will step up investment in research and development and transform itself from a vehicle manufacturer into a vehicle service provider.

“Challenges always bring opportunities,” he said, “we should turn bad into good and keep pursing our dreams.”

Qiu Jianlin, chairman of Zhejiang Hengyi Group, said that his group has 17 manufacturing subordinates in China, 11 of which specialize in the production of polyester.

“Due to the coronavirus outbreak, our polyester production companies have experienced many difficulties,” Qiu said.

He shared his group’s experience in solving financial problems and resuming production during the coronavirus outbreak

“Governments at all levels have rolled out policies to help companies resume operations. The market is going to return to normal,” Qiu said, “we will continue to focus on both production and prevention and control of the coronavirus.