00:00So, Greater Manchester has always seen the long-term strategic importance of China's.
00:12You may be aware there are already very strong, long-established civic links, so the relationship
00:19has always been a long-standing one.
00:23But I think also you can look to Greater Manchester in terms of its approach more broadly.
00:29It has always been a city region that has operated with a long-term mindset and vision.
00:37And that has meant that we've maintained a very consistent approach in the way that we've
00:42worked with our partners in China, something that I think very much resonates in China
00:49in terms of approach.
00:50Now, let me bring you back to 2015 and Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Manchester back
00:55then, and you played a significant role in facilitating and preparing for the visit.
01:01So, can you share with us some of the behind-the-scenes efforts?
01:04Yes, of course.
01:06Well, as it won't surprise you to hear, that visit was quite some time in the planning.
01:14And of course, there were efforts across the UK and China bilaterally to really ensure
01:21that that visit was as impactful as possible.
01:25So, there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with partners in the embassy, but also politically
01:33at very senior levels, both on the UK and Chinese side, to ensure that we were able
01:39to ensure that Manchester was a part of that programme.
01:42And you may also have seen that that programme went on to include footballing components,
01:49which, again, I think in Manchester's context were very important elements, perhaps in swaying
01:56that visit and ensuring that Manchester was an important part of the state visit programme.
02:02Yes, I could imagine there must be a lot of back and forth, back and forth, and that probably
02:07we should bring him here or there.
02:10And how does Manchester's unique sectors, such as manufacturing and its culture, play
02:15into this visit?
02:16Greater Manchester is the fastest growing city region in the UK.
02:21You've seen growth across a diverse range of sectors, from tech.
02:28Greater Manchester has been voted the fastest growing European tech city, through to areas
02:34such as advanced manufacturing, materials, of course, 2D materials and graphene being
02:41a really important element of that.
02:44So the progress that has been made in those areas through to life sciences and health.
02:51And I think probably the last element of that, and probably the most important, is the road
02:55to net zero.
02:56So our collective ambitions to tackle the climate change emergency.
03:02And of course, Greater Manchester set out 2038 ambition to hit net zero.
03:10That is an incredibly aggressive target.
03:13It's 12 years ahead of the national target, but an area that, again, will present very
03:19significant opportunities for the UK and China to work together in addressing those challenges,
03:26but also in leveraging the technological advancements that we've seen being made in China.
03:32So you have touched upon a wide range of collaboration between Greater Manchester and China.
03:38And we're going to go back to some of the topics that you mentioned.
03:41And the visit also helped secure the direct flights between Manchester and Beijing.
03:47And it started in 2016.
03:49So over the past decade, how do you see these flights contribute to the expansion of business
03:55and trade of Greater Manchester?
03:57What we've seen since the establishment of those direct routes into Manchester and Beijing,
04:03but more recently, the launch of the Shanghai route last year between Manchester and Shanghai
04:11is that those routes have played a critical role in accelerating engagement across trade
04:18and investment.
04:20We saw rapid growth and expansion in exports.
04:23I think it was just shy of 50 percent growth in just a two-year period post the launch
04:30of the Manchester-Beijing route.
04:32We saw rapid growth in number of tourists coming into the region.
04:37And of course, you look at areas such as education.
04:40So connectivity plays a key role in bilateral ties.
04:44And Airport City Manchester is a prominent joint project or venture between China and
04:50Manchester and the UK.
04:52So aligning with Greater Manchester's ambition, shall I call it ambition, of becoming the
04:57Heathrow of the North.
04:59The project is not completed yet.
05:01So how do you see this collaboration impacting Greater Manchester's role as a trade in the
05:07foreseeable future?
05:08I'm sure you will have heard of various sort of iterations of whether it's the Northern
05:14Powerhouse or the levelling up agenda from previous governments.
05:19But fundamentally, at the heart of that is recognising the huge untapped potential for
05:28economic growth that we see in the northern cities of the United Kingdom.
05:33And of course, given the tremendous progress being made in China in innovation terms, it's
05:39critically important that we're able to do that for northern regions.
05:44And so the progress we've made with Beijing and Shanghai has been critical in driving
05:50that forward.
05:51So in a bigger context, China-UK relations have experienced some ups and downs we have
05:56seen.
05:57But starting this year, we have witnessed more high-level exchanges between the two
06:01countries.
06:02How do you see the reassessment of bilateral ties benefiting Greater Manchester's economy?
06:09So from a Greater Manchester perspective, of course, to see the improvements in the
06:14bilateral relationship, I think is going to be very beneficial in terms of our continued
06:20focus and engagement.
06:22But I would go back to the areas that I've outlined in terms of opportunities for deeper
06:28cooperation exchange.
06:29We've spoken about the climate change emergency and the opportunities that that presents for
06:36innovators in and around the net zero agenda.
06:39So how do we bring innovative technologies from both sides together to address some of
06:45those challenges?
06:46And you mentioned green transition, both the UK and China are committed to net zero.
06:51How do you think these two countries, or specifically Greater Manchester and some of the Chinese
06:56cities can work together in that field?
06:59Yeah.
07:00So, you know, there's a broad range of projects, net zero northwest and high net projects across
07:08areas from hydrogen, carbon capture through to leveraging battery technologies.
07:15You will have seen that the government has set out some really ambitious targets around
07:19house building.
07:20We want to make sure that our commitments in that space are also consistent within the
07:25context of those net zero targets.
07:27So huge number of opportunities across the board to collaborate in that space.
07:33But we know that some of the Chinese investments were removed from the critical infrastructure
07:38in the UK.
07:39So how do you persuade the Chinese investors to come over to Greater Manchester based on
07:44his past experience?
07:45So, as I said earlier, Greater Manchester has always been a very open, very welcoming
07:51city region to international investment.
07:54So I think the key, and this applies to China as well as any other major international player
08:00that is looking at coming and investing in the area, you know, ultimately it's about
08:05coming and seeing it firsthand.
08:09But you know, as I say, we're a very welcoming, we're a very open city region and that isn't
08:15going to change anytime soon.
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