Firm friends to be made at major UK business festival

Updated: 2016-02-26 08:59

By Cecily Liu(China Daily Europe)

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Firm friends to be made at major UK business festival
The biennial festival is slated to run from June 13 to July 1 in Liverpool. Provided to China Daily


The International Festival for Business, the largest event of its kind in the United Kingdom, is again to be staged in Liverpool this summer - and a key figure behind it says involvement by Chinese companies is essential.

The biennial festival, to run June 13 to July 1, would include more than 80 events, as well as feature speakers such as Jim O'Neill, a ex-chief economist for Goldman Sachs, and former South African president Frederik Willem de Klerk.

Organizers say at least 30,000 delegates are expected to attend to take advantage of the international networking opportunities.

In particular, the festival will provide Chinese companies with a prime chance to showcase what they have to offer, says festival chairman Max Steinberg.

"It will give Chinese firms the opportunity to expand into new markets, new products, as well as opportunities to not only do business in the UK, but also in the United States, Far East, Middle East, Europe, and more," he says.

When the International Festival for Business was launched in 2014, it was the largest expo of its kind to be held in the UK since 1951.

According to Steinberg, the inaugural event directly resulted in more than 200 companies securing a combined 200 million pounds ($284 million; 256 million euros) in fresh investment, as well as the creation of 8,000 jobs.

Export deals among 750 of the companies in attendance were also forecast for the two years after the event, worth an estimated 80 million pounds.

In addition, around 15 percent of the companies that participated in the festival were exporting for the first time.

Chinese companies also agreed deals at the 2014 festival. Steinberg says the details are confidential, but he predicts greater involvement from China this year, as delegations from the cities of Kunming, Shanghai, Chongqing, Qingdao and Guiyang have all indicated an interest.

To generate more interest among companies, he visited several cities in China to raise awareness in February.

Liu Beiwen, honorary chairman of the South African Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, plans to lead a 20-strong delegation to Liverpool in June. He says the festival's broad sector focus makes it an attractive option.

"Many Chinese companies want to trade and invest in the UK across many sectors, so it's good for them to explore all those opportunities at one event collectively," he says, adding that his delegation will include representatives of China's manufacturing, agricultural, industrial and healthcare sectors.

Liu began organizing the trip in November after a long discussion with Gary Millar, lord mayor of Liverpool, during a promotional event for the International Festival for Business at a roadshow in Shanghai.

The pair originally met at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, which featured a Liverpool pavilion.

Steinberg, who oversaw the pavilion as chief executive of Liverpool Vision, the city's promotional agency, says it attracted 770,000 visitors.

He says that preliminary discussions held between Chinese and UK companies at the expo resulted in 50 million pounds of investment heading to Liverpool in the five months following the Shanghai event.

In part, the success of the Liverpool pavilion led to the establishment of the International Festival for Business, which emphasizes one-to-one interaction between like-minded business leaders.

The location of Liverpool, in northwest England, also potentially adds an extra aspect for Chinese companies, because it is connected to the Northern Powerhouse, an initiative promoted by the ruling Conservative party to attract foreign investment into infrastructure development in central and northern England.

cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com

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