British prime minister David Cameron is leading his country's biggest ever trade mission to China, overseeing the signing of deals in areas as diverse as space exploration to football training during an official visit to China.
The delegation participating in the three-day visit includes six government ministers and representatives from business, universities and the healthcare sector.
“We particularly want to explore all the opportunities of economic openness – openness of Britain to Chinese investment, which we’ve seen huge amounts of in recent months and years, but also the opportunities for further opening our trade relations,” Mr Cameron said.
He started his trip by visiting Jaguar Land Rover’s training academy in Beijing. JLR, owned by Tata Motors, signed a £4.5 billion (€5.44 billion) agreement to provide 100,000 cars to the National Sales Co in China over the next year. He gave strong support for a deal to free up trade between China and the European Union, China’s largest trading partner.
