Written by Li Yizhi / Translated by Li Xiaoting

Martyn Roper:Getting Closer to the Belt and Road via the CAEXPO

Written by Li Yizhi / Translated by Li Xiaoting

Britain is the natural partner of the Belt and Road Initiative, and hopes to develop global trade relationships with new partners after Brexit. In fact, China and Britain are the bene fi ciaries of globalization. China initiates the Belt and Road positively and Britain is a western developed country among Prospective Founding Members (PFMs) of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The development of cooperation relationship between the two sides to promote the globalization and build the Belt and Road is now on a vital node.

In September 2017, Martyn Roper,Deputy Head of Mission at British Embassy Beijing attended the 14thChina-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and said it was of a great signi fi cance for Britain to attend this year’s CAEXPO.

Looking forward to British participation in the Belt and Road

“In the morning of September 13,we held Sharing the Belt and Road Opportunities: China-UK Business Cooperation Seminar in Nanning International Convention and Exhibition Center in English to discuss how to strengthen the cooperation between Britain and Guangxi. Guangxi enterprises successfully introduced themselves to us, and British enterprises such as those from architectural design, real estate investment and so on, also exchanged deeply,” According to Martyn Roper’s statement, the event was very satisfying.

It is reported that Sharing the Belt and Road Opportunity: China-UK Business Cooperation Seminar is the fi rst sharing opportunities business cooperation seminar between CAEXPO and the UK, it is a breakthrough initiative of CAEXPO service of the Belt and Road Initiative. Surrounding the theme“China-UK Enterprises Promote Winwin Cooperation, Share the Belt and Road Business Opportunities, and the Introductions of the UK Investment and Business Opportunities”, the main contents of theseminar involved several aspects such as AI, architectural programming and design, infrastructure construction projects, fi nancial services,law consulting, trade and investment services, etc., covering the frontiers and key areas of cooperation of current economic and trade cooperation between China and Britain.

“Services, architectural design,professional financial, legal, insurance services, etc. are Britain’s strengths.Britain, especially its capital London,can be the financial center along the Belt and Road. Martyn Roper, Deputy Head of Mission believes that these advantages provide British a broad space in the Belt and Road Initiative process.Furthermore, Britain’s participation also helps itself cooperate with China-ASEAN and other countries along the Belt and Road in infrastructure fi nancing,project management, legal consulting,etc.

Martyn Roper hoped the UK can become an important force to promote the Belt and Road Initiative. On the day before the interview, Martyn Roper just visited Qinzhou in Guangxi and learned the local development from the local authorities, and it was impressive.“This is really an increasingly open and ambitious place,” he said.

The Belt and Road as the bridge between China and the UK

Martyn Roper said, “With Brexit, the China-UK relationship becomes more and more important.” In the interview,he also mentioned the importance of the Belt and Road cooperative construction,“the UK likes the Belt and Road initiative, we consider that this initiative is important for the regional and even global economic growth, security and stability,” he added.

For the UK, the year of 2017 is a special time node. On the other hand, Brexit step is accelerated gradually, for now,the UK and EU has held five rounds of Brexit negotiations. This European island country needs to find broader space for domestic economic and trade development, in order to dilute the negative impact of Brexit.

Britain needs to let the world know that it still has an open attitude to business and is a place where it is worth trading and investing. Liang Guoyong, Economic Affairs Commissioner, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD) said that Britain sent highlevel trade delegation fi rstly to important economies like China, the United States and India after the Brexit referendum,which perhaps reflectsthe idea that Britain wants to sign the trade agreement with a third party independently.

For China, the year of 2017 is a special year as well. In this year, the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was held, the global initiative proposed and promoted constantly by China is accelerated steadily, and gets more and more international attention and recognition.

Confronting the negative public’s emotions of some countries to globalization, China should take more positive actions to promote free trade and investment, to show the win-win results, and to play a more important role in the reform of the global economic governance system. As a traditional global business and trade power, it is of great significance for Britain to join the Belt and Road Initiative in the new globalization.

Martyn Roper said it is a golden age for Britain and China relationship development right now. Chinese President Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China visited the UK previously, with fruitful results.Meanwhile, Theresa May, the British Prime Minister claimed that the UK hopes to start its friendly visit to China in the year in her Chinese New Year message of 2017. The UK has been committed to building the government,commerce and trade, and cultural exchanges with China, and in the future,China and Britain will also conduct more high-level dialogues further in fi nance, culture, security and many other fi elds.