(Ambassador Liu Xiaoming Meeting with Lord Mayor of Birmingham Len Gregory)

On June 24th, Ambassador Liu Xiaoming and his wife visited Birmingham and West Midlands and extensively exchanged views with the local political, business and academic communities on further strengthening the cooperation between China and the region.

In Birmingham, Ambassador Liu and his wife called on Lord Mayor Len Gregory and City Council leader Mike Whitby. They extended a warm welcome to Ambassador Liu and his wife for their visit, said that Manchester pays great attention to China’s status in the world economy and hoped to carry out cooperation with China in manufacturing and service industries and to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning with China in industrial upgrading and economic restructuring. Ambassador Liu said that Birmingham is one of the most important financial, industrial and service centres in the UK and has close ties with China in all fields, and that China is ready to further deepen the cooperation with the city. For the next step the two sides can make more communication on concrete cooperation projects to continuously achieve more practical results and consolidate the basis for their cooperation.

(Group Photo of Ambassador Liu Xiaoming and His Wife, Birmingham City Council Leader Mike Whitby and Others)

Ambassador Liu and his wife also visited the University of Birmingham, met with the Vice-Principal & Provost Professor Michael Sheppard and other leaders of the school and listened to the school’s briefing on the cooperation with China in teaching, research and other fields. Ambassador Liu said that in this visit he learned about the long-standing, extensive and close cooperation between the University of Birmingham and China, and that the Chinese Embassy in the UK would, as always, provide support and necessary assistance for the University to carry out exchanges and cooperation with China and would work together with the University to push forward the continuous development of the educational cooperation between the two countries.

Ambassador Liu and his wife also visited the Birmingham Royal Ballet and exchanged views with its Chairman Professor Michael Clarke on strengthening the exchanges in culture and art between the Chinese side and the Royal Ballet.

(Ambassador Liu Xiaoming Meeting with Vice-Principal Professor Michael Sheppard of the University of Birmingham)

In West Midlands, Ambassador Liu and his wife visited Grayson Thermal Systems Ltd. and C Brandauer & Co Ltd and attended the luncheon organized by the Advantage West Midlands to make exchanges with the local business representatives. Ambassador Liu said in his remarks at the luncheon that the purpose of the visit to the West Midlands was to study the industrial advantages of the region and seek possible areas of the China-UK economic and trade cooperation. West Midlands is home to well-known enterprises, has obvious industry advantages and is strong in manufacturing and specialized services. Its industrial structure is highly complementary to that in China and the two sides have great potential for cooperation. The Ambassador hoped that businesses in the region would seize opportunities and actively carry out mutually beneficial cooperation with China. Local business leaders introduced the operations of their businesses and the progress in their cooperation with China, exchanged views with the Ambassador on some specific issues concerning the cooperation and said that they would explore the Chinese market more actively and make great efforts in developing the cooperation with China in trade, investment and other fields. Ambassador Liu also answered questions on China's investment environment, intellectual property protection and the China-UK personnel exchanges and training.

(Ambassador Liu Xiaoming in Discussion with Entrepreneurs in West Midlands)

UKTI’s Director Asia John Saville, CBBC Chief Executive Stephen Phillips, Minister-Counsellor Tian Xiaogang from the Education Section and Counsellor Li Feng from the Commercial Section of the Chinese Embassy participated in the relevant activities.

 (Ambassador Liu Xiaoming Visiting Businesses in West Midlands)