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China is a land of opportunity for region
YORKSHIRE firms can pick up business in China's financial, accounting and environmental industries as the nation bucks the global slump, an expert on Sino-British commerce has said.
Sir David Brewer, chairman of the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC), told businessmen in Leeds that there were still opportunities in the Far Eastern powerhouse even though some of its sectors, such as manufacturing, had been hit by the downturn.
The non-executive chairman of Marsh, one of the world's largest insurers, whose career in insurance broking began 50 years ago, also said the expansion of China's state healthcare offered more opportunities for British business.
Sir David, who was giving the Leeds University Business School corporate wisdom lecture, said: "I bring an optimistic message to companies in Yorkshire, whether manufacturing companies or professional services companies, and there is a strong element of that here with Leeds Financial Services Initiative.
"The options are shifting rather than dying off. Financial and professional services are still areas of strong interest."
He also said that the recession and last autumn's banking crisis would not put off the Chinese from doing business with
British firms.
"Decision-makers in China still appreciate very much the international financial position of the UK, based around the City of London but including the other financial hubs like Leeds, Edinburgh, Liverpool."
The CBBC has an office in Leeds and provides practical information for British firms wanting to export goods and services to China, invest there or have their goods manufactured there. Sir David said Britain's regions played a significant part in this.
"The Chinese know that you don't come to the UK just for advice about investing in the UK. You come for advice about a worldwide portfolio – how you put it together – it's not even confined us to Europe,
so with the international financial operations we have
in the UK and the professional advisers and lawyers up here,
for example in Leeds, people know they can get a wide range of services and advice and I think that gives us stability and optimism for
the future."
Sir David, who opened offices in China, Japan and India for Sedgwick in the 1980s before it was purchased by Marsh, was Lord Mayor of the City of London between 2005 and 2006. He also said that China was beginning to play a greater role in the world and said its leaders were doing more to improve its treatment of the environment.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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