City ready for second trade mission to China

The mission will offer Sheffield firms the chance to forge links with the business community in Chengdu – Sheffield’s Chinese partner city.

The visit, which is being organised by Creativesheffield and the China-Britain Business Council, will coincide with Chengdu’s Sister City Week.

The organisers hope the trade mission will capitalise on the links that Sheffield has built with China and Chengdu over the last year.

Events will include a Business Enterprise Forum, offering business matchmaking activities, and a Tourism Forum which will showcase Sheffield as a region to visit.

The trade visit also includes a visit to Jinhua, located in Zhejiiang Province, which is a traditional centre of agricultural production that has recently developed an industrial base around food processing, electronics, machinery and pharmaceuticals.

The trip follows last year’s visit to China and the Global Manufacturing Festival: Sheffield, which was attended by a delegation from Chengdu last month.

Joanna Lavan, International Trade and Relations Manager at Creativesheffield, said: “Chengdu is a major city in Western China with a population of 12 million people.

“The city is at the pinnacle of strategic development and holds many opportunities for Sheffield businesses – showing a strong interest in working with UK organisations.

“Last year’s trade mission was an undeniable success with participants building strategic partnerships and relationships with both professionals and civic leaders in Chengdu and Beijing.”

Commenting after last year’s mission, John Henry Hancock, Architect Associate at BDP, said: “BDP found that the Trade Mission to Chengdu was a fantastic opportunity to develop new business in a rapidly evolving part of the world.

“The trade mission enabled us to meet senior local government officials and major developers of our sister city in China.

“BDP anticipates commencing work on our first project in Chengdu in the very near future.

“Although we are working on construction projects in China, we hadn’t previously considered Chengdu.”

The trade visit is supported by UK Trade and Investment and companies may be eligible for MVS funding which can provide £995 funding towards the cost of the mission.