Warehouse premises in Bristol could benefit from Chinese trade link

January 2, 2014

The warehouse premises in Bristol known as Central Park could look to benefit following Mayor George Ferguson’s commitment to building a trade link between Bristol and its Chinese sister city, Guangzhou.

Mr Ferguson signed an historic agreement with the Guangzhou Mayor Chen Jianhua when he visited China last month. The Memorandum of Understanding commits to forging closer ties between the two cities in education, employment, sustainability, science, trade and distribution, would makes Central Park a vital warehouse premises in Bristol. At the China EU Summit, the two mayors exchanged views on the common ground between the two cities, including the importance of getting the right balance between the built environment and nature to ensure the well-being of local people.

Mr Ferguson said: “This promises to be a massively beneficial relationship for both sides, linking us more closely with a major trading partner and opening the door for economic, academic and cultural trade between our great cities. I was honoured to be invited on this important mission by the European Commission and even more so by the warm reception of China and its people. It really underlines the fact that Bristol is truly a global leader when it comes to new ways of doing things, particularly with regards with the environment and sustainability. I look forward to a long standing, mutually beneficial cultural and trading relationship with Guangzhou and I hope to welcome Mayor Chen to Bristol during our year as European – and increasingly Global – Green Capital.”
 

Bristol was also selected as one of only 15 European cities to participate in a European Commission-endorsed pilot project on Smart City co-operation with China, committing it to sharing expertise and knowledge around the use of technology to provide better services and create more environmentally friendly cities. Bristol will also provide advice on creating people-friendly places as China moves forward with its plans to build hundreds of new cities which are more closely based on successful European cities.

Mr Ferguson’s visit coincided with a trade visit from representatives from the West of England’s investment company, Invest Bristol and Bath. The region has been specifically identified by China as a leading development base in the UK for creativity and innovation, with particular strengths in low carbon industries, aerospace and advanced engineering, and microelectronics and is at the heart of one of the largest cluster of silicon designers in the world outside Silicon Valley.

Their visit aimed to help increase economic growth by promoting the region as an alternative area to London for investment. They hoped to open up new business channels and as a result came back with several good quality inward investment opportunities that could potentially generate a significant amount of high value jobs in the area from microelectronics to aerospace, to local food and drink.

Source: Bristol Post

 

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