Forum in London to explore Belt and Road opportunities

Around 200 British and Chinese government representatives and business leaders will gather in London on Jan 18 to discuss opportunities related to the China-led Belt and Road Initiative and to talk about other business possibilities.

Hosted by the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK, a prominent business association also known as CCCUK, the forum is themed China-UK Economic and Trade Cooperation: New Era, New Chapter. It will be held in the Guildhall, the ceremonial and administrative center of the City of London's financial district.

The event will feature speakers including Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Charles Bowman, lord mayor of the City of London.

The chamber said the forum will seek to "explore new areas for China-UK cooperation" especially within the context of a post-Brexit market and the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

"It is hoped that Chinese and British enterprises would work together to build close and pragmatic cooperative relations, establish a long-term and win-win cooperation mechanism, and plan a new blueprint for the cooperation and development of both British and Chinese enterprises," it said in a statement.

So far, China has invested a cumulative total of more than $17 billion in the UK, which is more than the Chinese investments in any other European country, other than Germany. In 2016, bilateral trade between China and the UK reached 59.3 billion pounds ($80 billion).

The forum comes at a time when the UK has shown interest in participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. On Tuesday, the British government announced 25 billion pounds of funding to support the initiative.

CCCUK was founded in 2001 to promote trade and investment between China and the UK. It has 200 member companies, mostly Chinese companies with operations in the UK. In 2017, it organized and participated in almost 40 events, attracting more than 3,000 participants.