The Chamber
Throwback | January 29th | SOUTH CHINA GALA & AWARDS CEREMONY
FRANCE & CHINA, INNOVATING TOGETHER
On January 29th, CCI FRANCE CHINE hosted its annual South China Gala Dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Guangzhou. The event welcomed over 500 distinguished guests, including business leaders, government officials, senior executives, and diplomats from both France and China. The Gala followed the outstanding Sino-French South China Innovation Forum, promoting and showcasing cross-cultural innovation and cooperation.
This year's Gala celebrated the dynamic partnership between our two nations under the theme of Innovation. It highlighted how bilateral collaboration transforms challenges into opportunities and serves as the driving force that fuels our enterprises, strengthens diplomatic and economic dialogue, and turns collective ambition into sustainable progress.
The event was opened by addresses from Christophe Lauras, newly elected President of CCI FRANCE CHINE and Laurent Legodec, Consul General of France in Guangzhou. We were honored to welcome Christian Gianella, Minister Councilor for Economic Affairs at the French Embassy in China, Pascal Gondrand, China Director and Jerome Coustans, Guangzhou Director of Business France, Thierry Berger, President and Jean-Michel Monjon, Vice-President of the China Committee of French Foreign Trade Advisors, and Chinese officials and industry leaders. Their presence and contributions reaffirmed the importance of sustained dialogue and cooperation between France and China.
The Gala Dinner in Guangzhou, was also the occasion to host the Awards Ceremony, celebrating Sino-French enterprises whose remarkable achievements have strengthened our business community and deepened the ties between France and China.
We once again extend our sincere appreciation to the members of the jury :
Christine Miles, Melanie Besancenot, Caroline Penard, Fabien Pacory, Frédéric Recordon and Jerome Coustans.
Congratulations to all the laureates for their exceptional achievements, their visionary leadership, and their role in forging a more dynamic, responsible, and interconnected future.
🏆 Sino-French Innovation & Partnership Award
EDF x Yuansuan – Jean-Philippe Lamarcade, Cen Tizen
GAC Sofinco Auto Finance – Stephane Fallick, Li Canhui
GAC Sofinco Leasing – Zeng Hebin, Alexandre Deshoux
Havas – Pascal Dasseux, Karl WU
🏆 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Excellence Award
EC International – Andrew Yang
Forsee Power – Frederic Poupeau
Lesaffre – Jerome Vanachter
Montagut – Emily Ma
Pellenc – Stephane Vigouroux
🏆 Innovative SME Excellence Award
Axon Interconnect – Guillaume Jacobs
JPCI Controls – Gregoire Jumeau
Nexline – Loic Benattar, Jenny Wong
Shenlanbao – Lucy Xu
🏆 Eco Innovation & Circularity Award
Auchan – Pierre Petitdemange, Allen Chen - Using recycled plastics to support Auchan eco-conception ambition, reduce GHG emission to protect the earth
Dowch | Funto – Kan Chen, Luya Qiao - World's first fully water-based peelable coating combining organic-inorganic hybrid PU and silicone-modified hydroxypropyl resin.
Fives – Hill Zhang - Fives HFO New Refrigerant Filling Solution, efficient, precise and reliable, supports to reduce Global Warming Potential(GWP) drastically and enable green production for Automotive industry.
Galenic – Christy SUN - Galénic continues to deepen its engagement in the ESG field, with responsible marketing, high-quality customer service and sustainable packaging as core priorities, empowering the green and low-carbon transition and high-quality growth of the beauty industry.
Kingfa Sci & Tech - Ada Liao - Kingfa has established a complete circular economy system in the fields of recycled plastics and bioplastics, providing practical solutions for achieving plastic pollution control and carbon emission reduction goals.
SGD Pharma – Frederic Barbier - SGD Pharma’s Zhanjiang plant is the first glass manufacturer in China to achieve ISO 14021 certification for post-consumer recycled (PCR) glass packaging, providing beauty brands with verified sustainable packaging.
SNF China – Thomas Villeneuve - SNF’s two major manufacturing sites have been started to use the Green Electricity since year 2022, and now have reached 99% of green electricity usage for two SNF sites operation in China
🏆 Sino-French Innovation & Excellence Award
China Merchants- Colisée – Olivier Dessajan
🏆 Honorary Award
Suofeiya – Billy Zhu
We want to sincerely thank our partners:
A special mention goes to Frédéric Raillard and Adrien Goris from Fred & Farid Shanghai, whose creative videos added rhythm and a fresh perspective to this celebration of innovation.
The South China Gala highlighted the vitality of our community and the ambition we share. We look forward to continuing this journey of cooperation, growth, and shared success.
