Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the US-based W. W. Grainger
Inc. Richard L. Keyser on Tuesday was given the Marco Polo Award,
which honors American business people who support American
volunteer professionals working in China.
Ji Yunshi, director of the State Administration of Foreign
Experts Affairs (SAFEA), presented Keyser with the award in
recognition of his contribution to exchanges of Sino-US experts and
friendship between the two peoples.
The SAFEA highly values cooperation with the United States and
hopes the Marco Polo Award to serve as a bridge linking the two
nations, said Zhang Jianguo, vice chairman of the SBFEA.
According to statistics from China Customs, 2.5 million foreign
experts have worked in China since 1978. At present, more than
240,000 come each year.
"Grainger has a long tradition of supporting the community where
we do business, and now we are in China ready to support the work
of dedicated volunteers in economic development and scientific
work," said Keyser.
The award, named after Marco Polo, the Italian traveler who
arrived in China in the 13th century and then introduced Chinese
civilization to western nations, was initiated by the China Project
of the Volunteers of America, a project that dispatches about 30
volunteers to work in China every year in areas such as finance,
securities, auditing, scientific research, medicine, agriculture,
industry, education, and business.
Grainger, a leading North America provider of facility
maintenance products, established its presence in China in 1995 and
opened its first product distribution center in China's financial
hub of Shanghai in September 2006.
(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2007)
