SCC hosted China’s top Ambassador to the UK H.E. Liu Xiaoming on 19th September, along with Cabinet Secretary for the Economy Keith Brown MSP and 200 Scottish businesses with China interests.
In his widely-praised speech at the Global Business Dinner in Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel, co-hosted by the education organisation The Confucius Institute, Ambassador Liu congratulated the Scottish Chambers of Commerce for their trade activity in China.
In April this year a high-level Chambers delegation opened the network’s first overseas office in Yantai, a port city in China’s 100 million-population Shandong Province.
SCC is successfully taking practical steps with our China engagement, leveraging international business-to-business connections and Scotland’s business-to-business links with China have reached a “turning point” thanks to pro-active private-sector leadership. Businesses are recognising that it is they themselves who have the power to increase the nation’s exporting performance.
In his speech at the Dinner, Ambassador Liu highlighted the need to take solid steps to promote China-Scotland business cooperation.
The Ambassador spoke of China and Scotland finding more new areas where “our interests converge, where our respective policies align with each other and where we can engage in cooperation.” That this could range from “local government collaboration to business and financial ties, from scientific and technological innovation to new energy, and from culture and education to tourism and health care.”
Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work, Keith Brown MSP praised the “extremely important work” of SCC “in collaboration with the Scottish Government.”
“That work is involved in promoting trade through better connections with overseas chambers and their members. It exemplifies something we need to do more of in Scotland. We realise you have many strengths and these are best realised when we work together.”
Tim Allan, SCC President, who led the April 2017 trade visit, and hosted the Glasgow Global Business Dinner said that Scottish companies should embrace China’s vast global infrastructure investment and trade vision known as One Belt One Road, and urged them to be “China-ready and China-friendly”.
He said, “We must build relationships with Chinese business: to better understand their needs, their interests and their demands and to find ways through relationships, time and trust to meet those needs.”
SCC CEO Liz Cameron OBE recognises the opportunities for business in China, but that its just the beginning. Scottish business needs to be taking the lead on forging new trade ties in new and exciting markets throughout the world.
