UK Trade and Investment and the East Midlands - China Business Bureau Market Visit to Sichuan/Chongqing

At the start of November last year the China Bureau, in conjunction with UKTI, headed off on a week long visit to Ningbo, Chongqing, and Sichuan. Six businesses, along with representatives from Leicestershire County Council, emda, and UKTI, took part in the mission aimed to encourage East Midlands companies to trade with China. The Bureau worked with its links in the regions to find the right contacts for the missioners to meet with to develop the appropriate business links and partnerships they were looking for.

Whilst in Chengdu (Sichuan province) the main party attended and participated in the opening ceremony of the new EU-Project Incubation centre. The centre has been established to provide businesses with a serviced office space on varying term contracts to assist them in getting set up in China.

Iqbal Katchi, Managing Director of Merchandex Trading Ltd said of the visit ‘smooth sailing and in my definite opinion, a fruitful outcome’. Whilst Loughborough College’s International Manager, Janet Spavin said that the meetings arranged for her were ‘very appropriate and have provided a sound basis for developing both business activity and collaborative partnerships’. Leicester based solicitors, Harvey Ingram were represented by senior partner Jitendra Patel who commented that the trip was ‘extremely useful for the company’ who have since established a long-term working partnership with a Sichuan based firm they met with on this visit.