China has dominated policy and business thinking since the start of the century. Much has been written about its economic transformation and governance, about its huge business potential, and more recently about its influence as a major player in the wider world economy. But what is it actually like to do business there? Joerg Wuttke is vice-president of the European Chamber of Commerce in China and has been doing business there for 16 years, formerly with ABB China and now with BASF China. We asked Mr Wuttke for some personal insights.

Secretary-General Donald Johnston understandably raises the question of the OECD’s future relationship with China (No. 251, September 2005). But as well as focusing on China itself, both in your edition and in your organisation’s impressive work on the country, what about China’s presence in the global economy generally?

The pace of economic change in China has been extremely rapid since the start of economic reforms just over 25 years ago. According to official statistics, economic growth has averaged 9.5% over the past two decades and seems likely to continue at that pace for some time. National income has been doubling every eight years. Such an increase in output represents one of the most sustained and rapid economic transformations seen in the world economy in the past 50 years.

Economic forecasting is a delicate exercise, but having just arrived back from Beijing, I am satisfied that all our predictions about the might of China in the global economy will come to pass, perhaps even sooner than many believe.

Does the level of government regulation affect a country’s economic performance? A first step in finding the answer is to assess the level of restrictions before looking at their effect. Consider regulations that constrain competition in product markets. These fell in all OECD countries in 1998- 2003, according to Going for Growth.

Small may well be beautiful in the business world, but being small can also be tough going, in good as well as turbulent times. Red tape, taxes and other charges, capital costs, employment regulations, legal costs: issues such as these absorb a lot of small-company time and money, and can, in the end, become a barrier to either going into business, or surviving in it. Still, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for over 95% of all firms and for 60%-70% of employment in the OECD area.

Food security seems to have improved on average, over the past four decades, with food availability in terms of daily calories and protein per capita rising some 30% in developing countries between the 1960s and the 1990s. The number of malnourished children under five fell by about 37 million between the 1970s and the mid-1990s, and the incidence of malnutrition dropped from 47% to 31%.

Your article “Ukraine : A miracle in waiting?” is a very thorough, well-documented and fair analysis of the economic evolution in Ukraine.