Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-02-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to assist UK firms to access Chinese markets.

Mr Hugo Swire

As part of the Government’s new ‘whole of Government’ Trade Strategy, Departments are working together to make it easier for UK businesses, including Small and Medium Enterprises, to take advantage of overseas opportunities. This includes significant opportunities in China, which generates over a quarter of global growth. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) and the Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Secretary of State, my right Hon. Friend the member for Tatton (Mr Osborne) have both visited Beijing in 2016, in order to: emphasise the UK’s comparative advantages in sectors that are important to China’s ongoing economic reform; stress the importance of improved market access and a reliable business environment for British companies; and encourage China to address overcapacity. The Secretary of State for Business, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Mr Javid) also held talks with his counterpart in Birmingham in February, encouraging further Chinese investment into the regions of the UK. We will continue to take an active approach to strengthen bilateral investment and expand two-way trade with China.