Business conference mulls Britain's opportunities at Chinese market

LONDON, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 500 people from various circles of Britain gathered in London on Tuesday exchanging views on China's transformation and the opportunities for British Companies, as British Prime Minister David Cameron claimed that China is a market that the two countries can cooperate for growth and reform.

At the Chinese Business Conference, the third of the annual event organized by the China Britain Business Council in London, participants had in-depth discussions on such subjects as China in transformation, positioning Britain, opportunities for Britain, the global impact of the emerging Chinese consumers, and China's industrial transformation.

"China's transformation is one of the defining facts of our lifetime," said Cameron in a letter to endorse the conference.

"China's development is not a threat but an opportunity and the UK is already benefiting."

He described Britain as the most open country in the western world to Chinese investment, "whether it's developing our energy sector or creating a western hub for the Renminbi (Chinese currency) in London, the prime minister added.

Chinese ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming said China and Britain are mutually important trading partners, who have witnessed fruitful bilateral economic and trade cooperation in recent years.

"Significant progress has also been made in infrastructure cooperation, SME collaboration and research and development.

"Exchanges and cooperation in the fields of brand building, the creative industries, energy saving and environment protection, and intellectual property are booming," he said.

Statistics from the Chinese side showed that the bilateral trade volume between the two countries reached 62.8 billion U.S. dollars in the Janaury-November period of last year, rising over 10 percent year on year.

The two countries are moving forward to the trade target of 100 billion US dollars in 2015.

Lord Sassoon Kt, chairman of CBBC and also president of the EU-China Business Association, expressed his confidence in China economy.

He told Xinhua, "I am pretty confident that China has all of the right inputs to continue to grow at 7.5 percent this year."

He said that China's consumers are pretty confident as they have the growing income levels, predicting that China's consumer expenditure is to continue growing.

Some 34 speakers from universities, research institutes, media, as well as companies from creative, designing and gaming sectors which have already launched business in China, addressed the meeting on their research and achievements in the Chinese market.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-01/15/c_133045065.htm