LEEDS CITY REGION STRENGTHENS TRADE TIES TO QINGDAO

Local News

Leeds City Region has further enhanced its ability to trade with China through a series of agreements to stimulate trade with the port city of Qingdao, which has a GDP of one trillion yuan, is home to nine million people and is well known for producing Tsingtao beer.

This formed part of a week-long trade and investment mission to China, which also included visits to Leeds’ twin city Hangzhou and Hong Kong. During the visit to Qingdao the delegation signed two Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with partners in the city to help and encourage businesses from the UK’s largest City Region outside of London and the South East to enter the fast growing Chinese market.

The first of the two agreements was signed with the China-Britain Industry Innovation Park (CBIIP) which is the first co-operative industrial park between the Chinese and British government and is spread over 15 square kilometres. The park, opened in November 2017, aims to strengthen bilateral cooperation and exporting opportunities between the two nations.

As a result of this, local businesses will be able to access free space to showcase products and services within the CBIIP to an influential audience of investors and professional buyers for two years.

This model proved successful for a similar agreement between Germany and China. The Sino-German Ecopark in Qingdao launched in 2013 has attracted $4billion investment.

The second MoU was signed with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) to increase trade opportunities between Qingdao and Leeds City Region through a co-ordinated programme of activity.

Also during the trip an agreement has been signed to build on strong links between Leeds City Region and Qingdao.

These agreements build on cooperation between Qingdao and Bradford. In 2017 Bradford City of Film launched a film office in Qingdao after supporting the Chinese city in its own bid to become a UNESCO City of Film. Investment from Qingdao in the UK so far totals £86m ($113m). The city has grown brands that are household names in China and elsewhere in Asia, such as air-conditioning and heating company HAIER and appliances company Hi-Sense which has a UK HQ in Leeds.

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