The 8th China UK Economic and Trade Forum was held in London, with the theme of "Gathering Momentum and Advancing towards New Synergy"

On March 18th local time, the 8th China UK Economic and Trade Forum was held in London. This forum is hosted by the British Chinese Chamber of Commerce, with special support from the Chinese Embassy in the UK and the UK Department of Commerce and Trade. It has also received strong support from several mainstream UK organizations, including the UK China Business Council, the British Chamber of Commerce, and 48 Group. The forum, with the theme of "Gathering Momentum for Innovation and Collaborative Development", attracted about 350 representatives from the Chinese and British political and business sectors to attend.

Chinese Ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang delivered a keynote speech. He emphasized the achievements of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, pointing out that the conference clearly conveyed China's unwavering commitment to promoting high-quality development and injecting stability into the world through its own development. 2026 is the starting year of the 15th Five Year Plan, and China will solidly promote key tasks such as expanding domestic demand, cultivating new driving forces, expanding opening up, and green transformation.

Zheng Zeguang stated that both China and the UK should implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and the results of Prime Minister Stamer's visit to China, strengthen exchanges at all levels, and promote the implementation of cooperation agreements. He emphasized that in the context of rising global uncertainty, China UK economic and trade cooperation has always been the "ballast stone" and "propeller" of bilateral relations. He called on the business communities of the two countries to work together in expanding trade in goods, strengthening trade in services, consolidating two-way investment, and expanding cooperation in third-party markets to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. He also hoped that the British Chinese Chamber of Commerce would continue to play a bridging role. Both sides should strengthen dialogue in strategic, financial, and innovation fields, enhance mutual trust, properly handle differences, and promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.

In his speech, Fang Wenjian, President of the British Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Bank of China London Branch, stated that the economic and trade exchanges between China and the UK have a long history, and the current cooperation has expanded from traditional commodity trade to multiple fields such as electric vehicles, culture, and consumer brands, showing a diverse and in-depth development trend. He emphasized that the two countries are currently at a critical stage of formulating the 15th Five Year Plan and implementing modern industrial strategies, with highly complementary economies and enormous potential for cooperation. Especially against the backdrop of rising global protectionism and geopolitical tensions, China and the UK, as important economies, have a responsibility to jointly uphold the principles of openness and multilateralism to enhance global market confidence.

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer for Economic Affairs, Rigby, stated that in the context of increasing global uncertainty, the UK and China share broad common interests in promoting growth and maintaining market stability. China is the third largest trading partner of the UK, with a bilateral trade volume exceeding 113 billion pounds, and Chinese investment in the UK continues to grow. The UK is willing to deepen cooperation with China while ensuring security and resilience, leverage its financial services advantages, and promote green transformation and digital economy.

City of London Mayor Susan Langley pointed out that the City of London attaches great importance to cooperation with China. Currently, over 40 major Chinese financial institutions are operating in London, which is also the largest RMB trading center outside of China. She revealed that she will visit China again in the near future and hopes to continue playing London's role as a bridge, promoting capital market connectivity through mechanisms such as the Green Finance Working Group, and achieving mutual benefit and win-win results.

This forum also has two specialized sub forums. Forum One, with the theme of "China's New Opportunities: Creating New Space for China UK Cooperation with New Quality Productivity", conducted in-depth discussions on topics such as economic structure upgrading, artificial intelligence empowerment, and free trade port construction.

The Director General of the UK Investment Office, Wu Qiaowen, stated that although China and the UK have different stages of development, their strategies overlap in key areas such as artificial intelligence and clean energy. Both sides can deepen cooperation in the fields of service trade and two-way investment. Wang Wen, Dean of the Chongyang Institute of Finance at Renmin University of China, predicts that China is expected to become the world's largest consumer market by 2035, and will unleash trillion dollar opportunities for the UK through institutional openness and other engines. Lu Min, Director of the Hainan International Economic Development Bureau, introduced the institutional advantages of the Hainan Free Trade Port after its closure, and welcomed British companies to use Hainan to expand into the Chinese and ASEAN markets and share the development dividends.