2 Visit to China
6. The delegation comprised four Members of the
Committee—Brian Binley, Simon Kirby, Ian Murray and David
Ward. In the absence of the Chair of the Committee, Brian Binley
led the delegation.
Programme of meetings
7. Our programme of meetings is set out in the
table below:
| Monday 28 February
|
13:15 hrs | Meet at Members' Entrance. Transport to Heathrow Airport.
|
14:30 hrs | Arrive Heathrow Airport.
|
16:30 hrs | Depart London Heathrow for Beijing [journey time 10 hrs].
|
| Tuesday 1 March
|
10:25 hrs | Arrive Beijing Airport
|
| 12:50 hrs | Briefing from the UK's Ambassador to China.
|
| 14:30 hrs | Transfer to Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom).
|
| 15:00 hrs | Meeting with Director General, European Affairs Department.
|
| 16:15 hrs | Roundtable with Chinese companies and Trade Associations and key Chinese inward investors including representatives from China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT),
China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronics (CCCME), Chrystal Digital, FD-Johnson Security, China International Capital Corporation and
Huawei.
|
| Wednesday 2 March
|
| 08.30 hrs | Briefing with Economic and Trade Policy section, British Embassy.
|
| 09.00 hrs | Meeting with members of the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) and British Chamber members.
|
| 10.30 hrs | Site visit to BT's Innovation Centre.
|
| 11.00 hrs | Roundtable discussion with leading UK companies in China to discuss business environment and market access issues. Representatives included: Diageo, British Sugar, Tesco, BT, BUPA,
BP, and Dulwich College.
|
| 12.20 hrs | Lunch with UK commentators on China including Jardine Matheson, Vermillion, Reuters, FT, EU Chamber, ExCo, BritCham, CBBC, CBI, and Li Jia Zhang, an author and social commentator
|
| 14.10 hrs | Science Site Visit:
Nottingham University and Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping (CASM) collaboration on 'network real-time kinematic (NRTK) GPS positioning'.
|
| 17.30 hrs | Meeting with members of the National People's Congress Foreign and Economic Affairs Committee.
|
| 18.30 hrs | Dinner hosted by Vice Chairman of NPC Foreign and Economic Affairs Committee.
|
| Thursday 3 March
|
| 09.00 hrs | Briefing by Tesco and store visit.
|
| 10.30 hrs | Science Site Visit:
Queen Mary, University of London and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications joint programme.
|
| 13:30 hrs | Depart for Shanghai.
|
| 18.15 hrs | Briefing from the Consul General.
|
| Friday 4 March
|
| 08.00 hrs | Visit to Huawei R&D.
|
| 10.45 hrs | Visit to BP Lubricants Centre followed by round table meeting with BP and representatives of Jaguar Land Rover, Pinsent Masons, B&Q and Johnson Matthey.
|
| 13.30 hrs | Meeting with Shanghai Automotive.
|
| 15:00 hrs | Presentation by Mary Boyd, Economist Intelligence Unit.
|
| 16.00 hrs | Meeting with UK SMEs including Abacus Lighting, Chapman Taylor Architects, Sondrel, Peel Group/Simon MacKinnon, EA Technology, RAPRA, Manchester Business School and
Nottingham University.
|
| 18.30 hrs | Dinner hosted by FOSUN.
|
| Saturday 5 March
|
| 07:30 hrs | Wash-up with the Consul General.
|
| 08:30 hrs | Depart Hotel for Shanghai Airport.
|
8. Overall, the visit gave us a valuable insight into the
strengths and weaknesses of UK trade with China and we record
our thanks to all of those individuals and companies which gave
up their time to share their experiences with us. The following
chapters of this Report set out some key messages from that visit.
|
