On 26th and 27th May, the China-Britain Business Council led a delegation of leading UK businesses in the Healthcare & Life Sciences Sector to Chengdu and Chongqing for dialogue with provincial and municipal government officials and key stakeholders.
During a recent visit to Chengdu on 20th April 2021, Premier LI Keqiang stated that Sichuan is the centre of Europe in Southwest China and set out a further willingness of China to open Sichuan to Europe and the world for stronger cooperation. Sichuan itself is playing a leading role in the reform and development of China’s domestic healthcare policy, and it was this context that set the scene for the UK-China Healthcare Dialogue. Through the dialogue, CBBC and our participating members were able to explore and discuss common interests in healthcare reform and progress, present the impact of their work in China, share best practices, and sow the seeds for deepening already-extensive collaboration.
CBBC was delighted to have strong representation from our leading members active in the Healthcare & Life Sciences Sector present, including Astra-Zeneca, GSK, Smiths Group (and Smiths Medical), Smith + Nephew, Relx - Elsevier, Arup, British Standards Institution (BSI) , and Care Visions. They were accompanied by Kiran Patel, Senior Director, CBBC China, Wendy Wang, Director Healthcare & Life-sciences, CBBC China and Wendy Wei, Chief Representative, CBBC Southwest China.
For the Chengdu leg of the visit on day one, the UK-China Healthcare Dialogue was organised in partnership with the Chengdu Municipal Health Commission, Chengdu Healthcare Security Administration, and Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Economic Cooperation. A series of meetings were set up at the Chengdu Tianfu International Bio-town with officials, leading domestic enterprises, and entrepreneurs. Our members were given the opportunity to present their work directly to representatives in attendance and develop key relationships to take forward.
In the afternoon, we led our delegation to the International Medical Equipment Companies Matching Forum for dialogue and exchange with leading domestic enterprises in the sector, closed-door meetings to discuss specific matters concerning medical device procurement policy, and a high-level discussion and dinner with Sichuan provincial officials.
The 14th Five-Year Plan set out plans for the development of healthcare and life sciences industries in China. The global outbreak of COVID-19 that preceded it has put the spotlight on the healthcare and life sciences industry, as corporations and governments across the world have had to work together to resolve the global crisis of our lifetime. As a result of the pandemic, the public has been paying close attention to topics such as early warning and prevention of infectious diseases, vaccine research and development, test and trace systems, medical equipment, and online medical services.
On 27th May, our delegation moved on to Chongqing, where we were hosted by the Foreign Affairs Office of Chongqing Municipal Government, Chongqing Municipal Health Commission, and Chongqing Healthcare Security Administration for a roundtable on UK-China Healthcare collaboration in the morning. In the afternoon, our delegates visited the Yuzhong District Healthcare Industrial Park for further discussion and relationship building.
When summarising two days of productive dialogue in Southwest China, Kiran Patel, Senior Director at the China-Britain Business Council in China said:
“The deepening of healthcare reform in China has continued to open up market opportunities for the UK’s healthcare and life sciences industries to explore. From pharmaceutical products and medical devices to standards, care homes, digital and information services, insurance, and medical infrastructure developments, CBBC was delighted to provide a platform for our member companies to exchange ideas on a number of key issues.
We will continue to support our member companies in the Healthcare and Life Sciences Sector to explore opportunities with government and private enterprise, expand their footprint across China and showcase the great work that they do in supporting the upgrading of China’s healthcare environment.”
If you would like to learn more about CBBC’s work in the Healthcare & Life Sciences Sector, please contact Wendy Wang:
