Successful trade mission with China

GFirst LEP, four local businesses, and Gloucestershire County Council last week visited the Wuhou District of China for a reciprocal trade visit.

Wuhou is one of the fastest growing commercial districts in China and the trip was able to build on the trade agreement that was signed by Wuhou representatives visiting Gloucestershire in 2013, to increase export links and relationships.

David Owen, Chief Executive of GFirst LEP, said: “The trade mission to Wuhou was a real success, identifying specific pieces of work that each of the four county businesses that visited China can work on to further strengthen the ties between Wuhou and Gloucestershire. GFirst LEP will now be exploring how we can further develop this relationship, including welcoming a return visit from the Wuhou delegation in 2016 and the exploration of setting up facilities in Wuhou to support further export for Gloucestershire businesses.”

The trip to the Wuhou District of Chengdu City has seen some inspiring business conversations and links between Chinese Government officials and Gloucestershire businesses – leading to some exciting opportunities for export for these four businesses:

Royal Agricultural University (RAU)
During the visit, the University made a number of successful educational developments. The President of Chengdu University agreed to a partnership between the two institutions, and the Local Commissioner consented to recommend the RAU to universities in the Chengdu area – with more than 100 Masters students attending an overseas university each year this is a very exciting prospect. A valuable contact was also made with a distributor of real ales in China, including those from the UK – great news for the University’s own Muddy Wellies ale.

National Star College
National Star College have an opportunity to train education and health officials in the care and development of disabled people, and there will be contact with the Director of Education for the Wuhou District, who believes that they have much to learn from the College. 

Prospects Training
Prospects Training’s internationally accredited on-line football coaching programme, will support the Wuhou Districts football training and coaching requirements within schools and sports clubs; Prospects hope to be exporting our products to china in 2016. There are plans for a return visit to further develop the business relationships formed within the trade trip.

Green Fuels
Government officials have requested further information on the waste oil conversion process from Green Fuels, to use in improving air quality in local transport, for Chengdu to implement into their waste management strategy. It is likely that Green Fuels will revisit Chengdu in the coming months to establish a clear strategy for the use of equipment locally, providing them with a model that could be replicated in cities across mainland China.

GFirst LEP and Join In China have been working tirelessly with Chinese Government officials in order to implement the trade agreement, enabling local businesses to benefit from key export links.

Qing Lin, Chief Executive Officer of Join In China, said: “This historical mission for Gloucestershire has been a huge success; the formal meeting was attended by all the heads of each bureau to provide signposting for delegates, and the match-making meetings maximised the networking and skills sharing opportunities for the businesses accompanying us.”

Other areas in the South West will benefit from local links with China, including the construction of the nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. A visit from the Chinese president to the UK last month confirmed that China has committed to be a partner in the building of the next generation of power plants, offering a boost in local job creation - predicted to be 25,000 jobs created in the construction phase.

With Government statistics showing that China’s import market could be worth over £3 trillion by 2020, UK exports to China will be worth just over £30 billion by 2020; export in Gloucestershire is looking very encouraging for local business in the years to come.

It is a positive sign for Gloucestershire that Wuhou’s growth is gaining momentum with the Government’s extremely ambitious plans for the district. Gloucestershire currently has the highest proportion of employees in export intensive sectors of all LEPs alongside London, and the recent visit to China will create further export opportunities; really putting Gloucestershire’s businesses on the map.