A business delegation headed by the new British Consul-General in Guangzhou Alastair Morgan, visited the three west Pearl River Delta cities Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Jiangmen from March 28 to 30.
13 British companies from different sectors, such as infrastructure and transport, construction and design, and professional services participated in the mission, aiming to find more business opportunities in PRD.
These cities are of great potential and there are business opportunities for British companies all across PRD, Mr. Alastair Morgan told in an exclusive interview with newsgd.com after the visit.
Exclusive interview with Mr. Alastair Morgan
Q: Your mission and you have visited Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Jiangmen, why did you choose these three places?
A: We think there are business opportunities for British companies all across the PRD, we also think there are opportunities for companies from PRD to invest in the UK and collaborate with British companies.
We led mission to Zhuhai last year, we are very pleased to follow up and to take more companies to Zhuhai. Zhuhai is a very well-Known city internationally in the early status as a special economic zone. We feel all these three cities are of great potential because of the very fast rate of growth that they have.
And Jiangmen is told to have a 15 percent growth in the next 5-year plan and we are going to see double digit growth in all these cities. Of course, the improvements in the infrastructure around the PRD, including the fast train to Guangzhou, the road infrastructure as well, means the increasing new opportunities for business.
We took a mission of companies engaged in infrastructure because it is going to have much investment in infrastructure in these cities. UK has such expertise in different aspects of infrastructure, including the renovation of the old buildings, urban planning and green buildings as well as some of the most advanced architectural design for landmark buildings.
All the three cities are looking to preserve the environment, to reduce emissions but at the same time to lead the economic environment. Really, they have great opportunities to work with our British infrastructure companies. Another company we took there were the service companies, particularly financial services companies who can provide advice and expertise to a whole range of companies.
Q: What do you think of the advantages and disadvantages of these three cities?
A: I think one of the first disadvantages of Jiangmen, in particular, is that it is not very well known. Jiangmen is the leading source of Overseas Chinese, so, in Chinese community, globally, it is very well-known. But if you talk to most people in UK, they would not have heard of Jiangmen even though it is positioning right next door to Macao and Hong Kong. It is really convenient for international business.
I think the challenges all the cities will face in main economic development, that Guangdong province faces as a whole, is that they need to continue to compete with other regions. They need to compete with neighboring Asian countries and inland provinces, which means they are going to have to move to the up-value chain in terms of production and in services.
That is a challenge for cities but actually is opportunity for British companies, because I think our economy is very complementary with high-level advanced manufacturing and very developed service economy, so we really think we can help the cities tackle this challenge. But in terms of main opportunities, the cities are increasing collaboration of other cities in the PRD and have very good links to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and with each other, which means whether you are looking to serve international, domestic or just local market, you are looking to great opportunities in these cities.
