Gloucestershire maintains strong links with China

This week GFirst LEP, Gloucestershire County Council and a number of Gloucestershire’s business leaders welcomed a delegation from the Wuhou District in China.

The meeting was held to discuss education, growth plans within Gloucestershire, as well as maintaining already established positive relationships.

The meeting was a follow up from the trade partnership agreement that was signed between senior Government officials from Chengdu City and GFirst LEP in August 2013. The agreement is in place to create investment and business cooperation between Gloucestershire and the Wuhou District of China.

David Owen, Chief Executive GFirst LEP, commented: “Building strong and lasting trade relationships with Chinese districts is great for Gloucestershire’s businesses, in order to encourage and drive sustainable growth in our county. We have been able to grow Gloucestershire’s profile as a great place to live, work, invest in and visit within the Chinese business market, resulting in increasing business relations and investment.”

Many businesses in Gloucestershire have benefited from the trade partnership; Prima Dental have seen export benefits and Geoff Davis, Managing Director of Helipebs said: “We have been selling products to China for several years, however as a result of the trade agreement and whilst working with Join In China, we have taken a further step in promoting our range of products into this important and ever growing market.”

This meeting has come hot on the heels of GFirst LEP signing a letter of intent alongside another Chinese district,the Commission Office for Public Sector Reform of Guangdong Province. Join In China’s GL Ambassador Qing Lin, has both initiated and maintained relationships that have gone from strength to strength. The agreement is a great development for Gloucestershire, in that it will develop cooperation and relationships, encouraging and establishing promotion, that will inevitably have a positive impact on our local economy.