East of England forum highlights Opportunities in China

SME’s in the East of England eager to export to the fast-growing Chinese market heard about the prospects of joining a UKTI trade mission to China later this year at a business forum held last month in Cambridge. At the event, organised by the China-Britain Business Council along with UKTI, keynote speaked and top Chinese diplomat Zhou Xiaoming spelled out prospects for British companies in sectors including biomedicine, renewable energy and IT. He told more than 60 business leaders that the two countries should look at ways to work together "as partners and collaborators, not competitors". The trade mission, scheduled for early December, follows a successful one to China last year. It is expected to include a visit to the huge inland city of Chongqing, with 33 million people, and to look at a range of industries. There will be opportunities to meet officials from the British Embassy and CCPIT, China’s international trade organisation, and hold individual meetings as well as attending briefings and other events. International trade adviser Steve Toogood leads UKTI’s work to help firms from the East succeed in China, now the world’s second largest economy. In 2010 exports of goods from the East of England to China topped half a billion pounds. "It really is essential for companies who want to break into the Chinese market to visit the country to experience at first-hand their culture and ways of doing business. This is a market that just cannot be ignored. But it needs to be understood properly, to manage risks and identify the best opportunities to sell British products and services. This trade
mission will be another great opportunity to pick up know-how, ideas, contacts and ultimately, we hope, contracts."

Talks by representatives from CBBC, UKTI, the UK’s Intellectual Property Office and private companies dealt with issues like making an impact in China’s less well-known cities beyond Beijing and Shanghai, new high-value opportunities for smaller companies, and protecting ideas and inventions. The Forum in Cambridge followed similar events in London and Leeds with a fourth to be held in Manchester.