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Jersey’s appeal as a gateway to Europe underlined at major Anglo-Chinese conference

A broad range of Jersey’s business expertise was showcased to a capacity audience of over 500 key British and Chinese professionals at the China-Britain Business Council’s (CBBC) China Business Conference 2015 earlier this month.

Locate Jersey sponsored the lunch reception at the conference, which took place on Wednesday 11 March at the QEII Conference Centre in London and which is now recognised as a key event in the CBBC UK-China business calendar.

As well as hosting the lunch, at which Jersey Dairy ice cream was served, the Minister for Economic Development Senator Lyndon Farnham also met with a number of delegates and government officials including Lord Sassoon (Chairman of the CBBC), Minister Ni Jian (Chargé d’Affaires at the Chinese Embassy in London) and Lord Browne (Chairman of the Huawei UK Board). He was also interviewed by Chinese television channel Phoenix TV. Locate Jersey were represented by Wayne Gallichan, Director of Inward Investment & International Trade Development, and Nora Zhang, Locate Jersey’s Beijing-based Project Manager.

Attended by delegations from the city of Wuhan and region of Henan, as well as the China Investment Promotion Agency and Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, the conference featured a total of 57 expert speakers who shared insights on topics including education, innovation and entrepreneurship, what the future holds for Chinese investment into the UK, tourism and the changing habits of the Chinese consumer.

A keynote speech was given by Jim O’Neill, former Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, whilst other high profile speakers included Patrick Tsang (Chief Investment Officer, GNet Group Plc), Dominic Jermey (CEO, UKTI) and Ed Vaizey MP (Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy).

Wayne Gallichan said: “Attending this conference again gave us a valuable opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with existing contacts and to expand our network, and also to keep abreast of developments in China. It is through initiatives like this, coupled with the hard work of our Project Manager Nora Zhang in Beijing, that we are opening up exciting opportunities for Jersey businesses, such as Jersey Dairy, to access the Chinese market. During her visit to the UK and Jersey, Ms Zhang met with a number of local businesses that are seeking to trade with China.”

Senator Lyndon Farnham added: “Britain now attracts 50% more investment from China than its nearest European rival and over the past five years, the UK has welcomed over £12 billion of Chinese investment into the country. Given Jersey’s strong links with the UK, it is clear that there are significant opportunities for Jersey to act as a conduit for high quality, high value Chinese investment and to assist Chinese businesses looking to expand into Europe. Equally, there is clearly scope for Jersey businesses to explore the Chinese market across the finance, tourism, retail, digital and e-commerce sector, with feedback from our attendance at this conference underlining how well Jersey is perceived by the Chinese authorities.”