Austrian high-tech companies are tapping into new business opportunities in China as the Chinese market has showed a strong recovery after being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year.

The commercial section of the Consulate General of the Republic of Austria in Guangzhou organized 10 Austrian companies that have branches in China to attend the latest China Hi-tech Fair, which ran from Nov 11 to 15 in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province.

These companies are global leaders in the fields of artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing, new materials, telecommunications, and sensors, said Birgit Murr, commercial counselor of the Consulate General of the Republic of Austria in Chengdu and head of the commercial section of the Consulate General of the Republic of Austria in Guangzhou.

Austria showed their strong intention and support of bolstering cooperation with China despite the COVID-19 pandemic through this move, said Murr in a promotional event during the fair.

Fan Xinlin, vice president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) Guangdong Committee, said that the Chinese market has an increasing demand for cooperation in high-tech areas as China's economy enters a new stage that highlights quality, as well as that Austrian companies have advantages and broad cooperation opportunities.

These companies that displayed their top technologies and products at the fair have provided a platform for companies in Guangdong and around the country to approach them for future collaboration, he added.

"CCPIT Guangdong attaches great importance to exchanges and cooperation with Austrian business and industrial communities," said Fan.

The total imports and exports between Guangdong and Austria surpassed 10.3 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) in 2019, up 13 percent from the previous year and representing one seventh of the total volume between China and Austria, official figures indicated.

As one of the 10 participating Austrian companies, Rosenbauer, a global leader in firefighting technology and resources with a manufacturing history of more than 150 years, attended the fair for the first time.

"China has been an increasingly important market for Rosenbauer," said Alexander Schneckenreither, chief representative of the company in China.

"We have seen a rising demand from government users for fire trucks over the past few years," added Schneckenreither, who has been in China for 16 years. "Before that, the company mainly supplied products to airports and big companies."

Marco Olszewsky, president of RHI Magnesita China and Asia Pacific, said that it is amazing to see China's great efforts to quickly get the COVID-19 pandemic under control and have a strong economic recovery, which have further raised the confidence of the company.

RHI Magnesita, a global leader in refractories, has employed more than 3,000 workers in six plants in China. Its Shanghai base has been the company's main sales and marketing office in China and East Asia.

"Our job is to make our customer more successful and do it in the most efficient way by also reducing our costs," said Olszewsky.