UK eyes opportunities in Belt and Road construction

The United Kingdom attaches more importance to the business opportunities and cooperation prospects brought about by the Belt and Road Initiative, believing the initiative is an important part of bilateral partnership and will open a new market to British enterprises after Brexit, the Economic Daily reports

Alok Sharma, the UK minister for Asia and the Pacific, said that commercial and economic cooperation is the crux in the China-UK global comprehensive strategic partnership. Britain will deepen cooperation with China in the latter’s “going out” projects, among which the Belt and Road projects will be the focus.

Barbara Woodward, UK’s ambassador to China, said that considering the regions along the routes of the initiative have global economic importance, promoting the regions’ development is in line with the interests of all parties. The UK hopes to see more economic cooperation and inter-connectivity with China in the Belt and Road construction. 

For British businesspeople, taking part in the initiative means opening China’s domestic market as well as the other countries’ markets.

Stephen Phillip, CEO of the China-Britain Business Council, said many Chinese provinces will take the opportunity of the initiative to improve their infrastructure construction, inter-connectivity, urbanization, logistics, service sectors and international trade, which will provide British enterprises with opportunities to expand their market.

British enterprises can particularly cooperate with Chinese enterprises in areas of project management, financing, design, planning and environmental protection, said Phillip.

Britain’s financial service enterprises see building of the initiative as an important factor influencing global capital markets.

Henric Raber, head of Capital Markets of the Standard Chartered Bank, said there is a strong financing demand from projects along the routes of the initiative.

Raber said, As China pledges the initiative’s openness, it means that the global capital market can take part in it. 

Some Chinese financial agencies have already issued some initiative-related bonds, which are expected to link capital pools of different currencies. This is conducive to not only the development of a global bond market, but the booming of capital markets in China, Singapore and London.