Learn to Aim Higher: The Public Relations & Sales Department Workshop in the Fourth Embassy Zone
2016-05-11
The 4th Embassy Zone, a pivotal project
approved by the central authorities and planned, developed and constructed
jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Beijing Service Bureau
for Diplomatic Missions (BDS) to meet the demand of the foreign diplomatic
missions, is of significant political importance in regard to the long term
development of the BDS and the HSC. To learn more about the Zone, provide proactive
support to the BDS and the HSC in respect of their development and construction
efforts, and promote the Zone to diplomatic missions, the Public Relations and
Sales Department held a themed workshop on the 4th Embassy Zone project
on the afternoon of 7 March, 2016, as a pre-sales marketing activity. Ms. Jiang
Qi, Executive Deputy Director General of the BDS, was invited to lecture and brief
the audience on relevant government macro policies as well as the history and
future of the project. Mr. Zhang Bing, Director, and Lv Bing, Deputy Chief
Planner, Beijing Zhonglianhuan Architectural Design Co., Ltd., the designing institution
of the project, also made presentations on the occasion and briefed the audience
on the project planning and designing process. Mr. Zhang Yue, General manager, and
Miss Lin Li and Mr. Liu Yong, Deputy General Managers of the HSC, took part in
the event. For the purpose of sharing resources with all, the workshop was open
to all HSC departments and eventually saw participation by some 130 staff from
15 offices, setting a record for training programs organized by this Department.
With carefully prepared PPT slides, speakers
from the Beijing Zhonglianhuan Architectural Design Co., Ltd., thoroughly
described the basic development plan of the 4th Embassy Zone in 7 respects
including the convenient transportation access, reasonable layout, optimal supporting
services, flexible premises partitioning, ecological landscapes, accessible public
utilities and intelligent security facilities. The professional and informative
presentations highlighted numerous bright spots in terms of the planning and
design, giving specific information instead of abstract concepts to the
audience who expressed admiration for the forward-looking approach and
science-based designing skills of the company.
Then Ms. Jiang went to the podium to share
some untold stories in the 4th Embassy Zone project development process, ranging
from “Why” and “How to” to “Who would” make the investment and "Who would benefit
from the project". She recollected the history of the project in respect
of the project initiation, assessment, examination and approval, spanning 7
years and testing the developers’ fortitude. The BDS leadership took painstaking
efforts to increase the allocated land area from 510,000 square meters to
836,000 square meters. The application for the land purchase fund which led to
the eventual fund appropriation was also a journey of lot of twists and turns. The
hard and bumpy history was so impressive that the audience were deeply touched
by the relentless efforts made by their senior colleagues.
Ms. Jiang continued to portray the future
development plan of the 4th Embassy Zone, and pointed out that, based
on a “demand-oriented and advance planning” approach, the construction land use
demand would be analyzed scientifically to meet the needs of the embassy customers.
Plans of providing facilities including the apartment buildings, office
buildings, hotels, international schools, catering, shopping and leisure services
should be formulated as soon as possible to meet the diplomatic missions’ demand
for offices and residential housing and attract customers from the diplomatic corps.
According to the first 5-year Plan for the 4th Embassy Zone, efforts would be focused
on optimizing supporting infrastructures including roads and public utilities
as well as introducing the concepts of “Comprehensive Corridor” and “Intelligent
City”. She predicted that, with the improvements in the road and municipal
facilities, the new Zone would definitely become a hotspot with great prospect.
Based on their own work experience, the
audience posed questions concerning preferential policies for the customers,
canal cleansing and commencement time of the publicity and promotional campaign,
and received detailed answers. Ms. Jiang also expressed her hope for the young
employees participating in the project construction to contribute to the construction
work with their intelligence and wisdom. Despite of the challenges the project would
face in terms of the subsequent construction and investment, the BDS, as the project
owner and constructor, with a sense of commitment and responsibility, would
make utmost efforts to overcome the difficulties and do a good job to leave a
valuable asset for the BDS’ future. With great enthusiasm and anticipation, the
presentation stirred up a strong sense of conscientiousness and responsibility in
the audience who enthusiastically applauded Ms Jiang's motivating speech.
The workshop served to make all the Public Relations
& Sales Department staffs realize that the construction of the 4th Embassy Zone will provide the BDS and the HSC with broad space for sustainable
development as well as a new platform for supporting China’s diplomatic cause,
offering foreign diplomatic mission better service and building the DRC brand. Nonetheless,
the immense opportunities brought about by the project may only be achieved
with courage and fortitude, and its potentials may only be realized with the pioneering
spirit and hard work. The Public Relations & Sales Department personnel, in
order to meet the expectations of the BDS and the HSC leadership, are committed
to making multi-dimensional efforts in addition to the existing sales endeavors
to contribute to the development, construction, promotion and future of the project.
