CHONGQING, March 21 (Xinhua/APP): A delegation of mayors from various regions in the United Kingdom (UK) on Thursday wrapped up a visit to Chongqing, a megacity in southwest China, having gone there to explore business and trade opportunities.
The British Mayoral Delegation included senior members of government departments from the West Midlands, East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Bristol and West of England, as well as other regions and cities.
“Chongqing is quite a dynamic city, and I’m very impressed by its scale. The people here are very welcoming, and we look forward to working with them,” said Richard Parker, the delegation leader and mayor of the West Midlands.
During the two-day visit, the UK delegation engaged in in-depth discussions with the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce on deepening China-UK (Chongqing) investment cooperation, visited the Chang’an Automobile Global R&D Center, and held a meeting with Hu Henghua, mayor of Chongqing.
Hu expressed hope for further expanding economic and cultural exchanges with various regions of the UK, strengthening cooperation in new-energy vehicles, bio-medicine, finance and other fields, and deepening local friendly exchanges for the sound and stable development of China-UK relations.
“During this visit, I was delighted to witness the exceptional innovation culture upheld by local enterprises. We are keenly eager to explore collaborative opportunities with all stakeholders,” said Nadine Peatfield, deputy mayor of the East Midlands.
Given the large-scale expertise in digital technologies in the automotive sector of Chongqing, Mike Wharton, deputy mayor of the Liverpool City Region, also expressed his willingness to deepen cooperation in this area, adding that Liverpool has strengths in terms of manufacturing, logistics and supply chain management for the automotive sector, and this could be leveraged for new collaborations alongside Chongqing’s large automotive industry and production sale.