Vice-Mayor of Shanghai Xie Dong said:

Shanghai will continue to transform into a more digitalized and greener city, with the priorities of growth focusing on integrated circuit, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, automobile, healthcare, etc.

James Sassoon, president of the CBBC, said:

It is a particular pleasure to hear from Shanghai, the largest city in China, which is increasing its welcome to businesses across many areas in diverse ways, especially when the world is in a continued time of economic challenges.

The event concluded with a signing ceremony where CBBC Members Johnson Matthey signed an agreement to invest in Jiading District, and CBBC Chief Executive Andrew Seaton signed an MOU with Xue Feng, President of Invest Shanghai committing to further collaboration on supporting UK and Chinese businesses to develop bilateral trade and investment.

Andrew Seaton, Chief Executive, CBBC

"Despite the lack of business travel, it's interesting that the trade between Britain and China last year has broken a new record, exceeding 110 billion pounds ($136 billion). The British companies, which have already been established in Shanghai, are very committed to being there, they are engaged there, and they're investing more there.

What we have not seen so much over the past three years is the new companies coming through. So, I think the event today, to make the China opportunities more specific and more real, is very important to some of those new companies who are perhaps looking at starting their China journey."