On the afternoon of May 17, Yin Yong, Mayor of Beijing, met with the delegation led by Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, Chair of the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC).

Yin said that China holds a strong appeal for global investors due to its huge market and solid progress in high-quality development. Beijing has kept to its strategic positioning and incorporated the “five key initiatives” into the new development paradigm. It has accelerated its efforts to build an international innovation center and boost a healthy digital economy. It is leading the creation of new demand through supply-side structural reforms. Underpinned by the “two zones”, Beijing has promoted high-standard opening-up with a focus on the institutional dimension. In addition, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development is well underway. All these provide a broader space for us to intensify cooperation. He encouraged the CBBC to continue to serve as a bridge and invite more British-funded businesses to learn about and invest in Beijing. He also expressed hope for deeper mutually beneficial cooperation in areas such as sci-tech innovation, digital economy, finance, and consumption, and greater scale and quality of economic and trade cooperation between the two sides. Beijing is committed to improving the “service package” and “service steward” systems and creating a first-class business environment, thus offering high-quality services to help various types of businesses invest and thrive in this market.

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles and the accompanying business leaders of British companies expressed their confidence about the strong resilience and prospects of China’s economy. They highly praised Beijing’s strengths in sci-tech innovation, and human resources, and voiced their willingness to encourage more companies to expand their investment and presence in the city. They believed the strong complementarity between the British business community and Beijing will generate win-win results.

Zeng Jin, Member of Party Leadership Group of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, attended the meeting.