Haier Announced Official Sponsor of Beijing 2008 Games

    QINGDAO, China, Aug. 12 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Beijing Olympic organizers
 announce today that the Haier Group has been selected as the Official Home
 Appliances Sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
     A sponsorship agreement was signed between the Beijing Organizing
 Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) and Haier Group, one of
 the largest manufacturers of household electrical appliances in China.
     As an official sponsor, Haier will provide funds, home appliances and
 related services to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the Beijing 2008
 Paralympic Games, BOCOG, the Chinese Olympic Committee as well as the Chinese
 Olympic sports delegations to the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy
 and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
     Haier Group, established in 1984, is headquartered in Qingdao, Beijing's
 co-host city for the sailing events of the 2008 Games, which is about 800
 kilometres away from the Chinese capital.
     "Haier becoming an official sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will
 greatly boost the preparations for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, especially
 the Olympic sailing events," BOCOG Executive Vice-President and Secretary-
 General Wang Wei said at the ceremony, "On the other hand, sponsoring the
 world's greatest sporting event also provides Haier with an unparalleled
 platform to build up its prestige on a global basis."
     "The decision to sponsor the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has been widely
 recognized and supported by Haier employees as it is in line with Haier's
 corporate culture and business philosophy.  Haier's corporate culture, noted
 as 'Self-challenging, Exploring, Innovating', is in line with the Olympic
 spirit, "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Faster, Higher, Stronger), the presentation
 of prime philosophy of human being," Haier CEO Zhang Ruimin said at the
 ceremony.
     "Haier is obliged and also able to offer home appliances and related
 services to the 2008 Olympic Games," Zhang noted.
     Senior BOCOG officials, representatives from Haier Group and other Beijing
 and Qingdao municipal governmental agencies and departments witnessed the
 signing of the sponsorship agreement.
     The Beijing 2008 Sponsorship Programme consists of three tiers of support,
 including the Beijing 2008 Partner, the Beijing 2008 Sponsor, and the Beijing
 2008 Supplier.  Since the Beijing 2008 Olympic Marketing Plan was launched on
 September 1, 2003, nine enterprises, namely Bank of China, China Network,
 SINOPEC, CNPC, China Mobile, Volkswagen Group (China), adidas, Johnson &
 Johnson and Air China, have been selected as the Beijing 2008 Partners; four
 enterprises have been selected as the Beijing 2008 Sponsors, namely UPS, Haier
 Group, Tsingtao Beer and Yanjing Beer.
 
     About Haier
     The Haier group was set up in 1984 in Qingdao of China and in just two
 decades as per Euromonitor Statistics of 2003, Haier was ranked as the 2nd
 largest Home Appliances brand in the world.  The group has emerged as a top
 multinational, manufacturing a wide range of home appliances and consumer
 electronics products with manufacturing facilities spread over 13 countries
 including USA, Europe, Middle East, Africa, South Asia other than its robust
 presence in China.  The company has its marketing and sales network in 166
 countries around the world and in 2004, the group turnover aggregated US$ 12.2
 billion.  The product range comprises of over 15,100 models in 96 categories.
 Continuous innovation is the soul of Haier's corporate culture and on an
 average Haier develops 1.3 new products per day through its 18 Research &
 Development and design centers across the world.
 
     For more information, please contact:
 
     Ms Dai Jia at BOCOG's Media and Communications Department:
      Tel:   +86-10-8402-2008 x12124
      Fax:   +86-10-6400-7608
      Email: daijia@beijing-olympic.org.cn
 
     Ji Guangqiang at Haier Group
      Tel:   +86-532-8893-8201
      Fax:   +86-532-8893-8169
      Email: jigq@haier.com
 
     To learn more about BOCOG and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, please surf
 http://www.beijing2008.com .
 
     To learn more about Haier Group, please logon to http://www.haier.com .
 
 

SOURCE  Haier Group