(Yicai Global) Dec. 22 -- Despite the Covid-19 pandemic having hindered cross-border exchanges, Chinese companies have not stopped investing in Austria, the director of the Austrian Business Agency said in a recent online interview.

Facing ever more Chinese companies and given Austria’s limited market size, René Tritscher said the country pays more attention to the quality of investment than the quantity, and will focus more on research and development, especially in the automobile, autonomous driving, information and communications technology, and life sciences fields.

EHang Holdings said in August last year that the Chinese firm would start testing autonomous aerial vehicles in the city of Linz, according to information from the ABA. Huawei Technologies opened its flagship store in Vienna this year and China’s largest talc maker, Liaoning Aihai Talc, also finished building its factory in the capital. In June, a China Railway Express train traveled from the Chinese city of Suzhou to Granz for the first time.

Tritscher also said he hopes to see Chinese electric carmakers conducting self-driving car tests in Austria in the future.

Trade between the two countries reached EUR14 billion (USD15.8 billion) last year, making China the largest exporter to Austria after Germany, according to data from China’s commerce ministry.

Over 100 Chinese companies have already invested in Austria, said Wu Shanshan, chief representative China at ABA-Invest in Austria. More and more firms are active in the Vienna market, she added.

More than 90 percent of Chinese firms surveyed were satisfied with the overall investment and business environment in Austria as the environment is relatively stable, and they are willing to further increase their investment in the future, according to a report released by the Association of Chinese Enterprises in Austria on Nov. 30.

Tritscher said he was impressed by China’s Industrial and Commercial Bank setting up shop in Vienna in 2018. CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive also set up its Central and Eastern Europe headquarters and its R&D center in the city in 2016 and 2018, respectively, he added.

Tritscher also noted that Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motor has based its only European R&D center in Austria, and Chinese telecoms giant ZTE will set up its CEE HQ in Vienna.

Editor: Futura Costaglione, Xiao Yi