CBBC releases report focusing on building UK - Sino relations

The"Shandong-Xinjiang-Europe"railway departed Qingzhou in East China's Shandong Province on August 28.[Photo:Agencies]

A report released by the China-Britain Business Council highlights the opportunities for UK businesses, which comes directly after the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.

In the report it mentions a variety of ways in which the UK and China can co-operate and build a stronger relationship.

Lord Sassoon, Chairman of the China- Britain Business Council said:

“This third report aims to dig deeper, focusing on specific developments and tangible opportunities along the BRI southern routes – both maritime and overland and both inside China and across the South and South East Asia regions.”

Alongside the focus of UK-China relationships, the report also develops on some key themes that have started to emerge, now that the initiative is in its beginning stages. These include:

● Investment in ports across the maritime routes increasing capacity and interconnectivity

● New and expanding routes for China’s oil, gas and natural resource import needs

● International expansion of China’s rail freight business

● Regional interconnectivity of high-speed rail, highways and telecoms networks

● Continued investment in China’s aviation sector for route expansion

● Chinese investment in power generation and renewable energy sectors in third countries

● Urbanisation and smart city planning

● Growing opportunities for China’s construction and engineering sectors in third countries

● Development of bilateral industrial, tech and trade zones in China and in third countries

● Country cooperation in manufacturing, production capacity and supply chain efficiency

● Country cooperation on research, science & technology development

● Regional cooperation in banking and information sharing for cross border transactions

Keen to emphasise the compatibility of UK and China in this venture, the report also looks at what the Chinese can learn from Britain, especially when looking at regulatory and operational frameworks. ­

It states that the UK is well positioned to complement these requirements in a number of areas where British companies possess a wealth of experience and expertise, such as banking and financial services, legal and professional services and energy.

The report identifies and analyses these key sectors and evaluates how UK business can make full use of its strengths in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The UK has become the westernmost link of the BRI and saw a China-UK direct freight train service successfully departed from Yiwu on a 12,000 km journey that lasted 18 days.

The return journey, departing from Britain in April, carried goods such as vitamins, baby products and pharmaceuticals.