The United Kingdom is going to boost trade cooperation with China after the two countries launched a joint review to identify new growth opportunities, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday.
“We are determined to deepen our trade relationship even further… We’ve today launched a joint trade and investment review to identify priorities for promoting growth in goods, services and investments,” May said at a joint press conference after meeting with Chinese State Council Premier Li Keqiang.
The UK prime minister, who arrived in China for a three-day visit, noted that she had discussed China’s Belt and Road Initiative that focuses on cooperation between Eurasian countries.
“The UK is a natural partner for the Belt and Road Initiative with our unrivaled City of London expertise. And as I’ve discussed with Premier Li… how the UK and China will continue to work together to identify how best we can cooperate on Belt and Road Initiative across the region and ensure it meets international standards,” May explained.
The UK prime minister recalled that an inaugural meeting of UK-China CEO Council would be held later in the day with the participation of business leaders and ministers.
“I’m pleased we’ve agreed to intensify the golden era of UK-China relations. UK and China are both global powers with a global outlook,” May stressed.
The United Kingdom and China also agreed on cooperation in education, improving aviation security, tackling overcapacity in some global markets, especially in steel, as well as on partnership in combating organized crime, specifically modern slavery and synthetic drugs, May outlined.